A veteran SAMiste shares her experiences at the 2018 Medical English Seminar in Lyon—will you join her in 2020?
By Anne-Charlotte Giovangrandi
This article was originally published in Translorial, the journal of the Northern California Translators Association (vol. 41, no. 2, fall 2019) and is republished here with permission.
Short for Séminaire d’anglais médical, SAM is organized every other year in Lyon, France, by the Société française des traducteurs, the French sister association of the ATA. Presented as a medical English writing and terminology training course, SAM is geared toward translators working in French and English who specialize—or wish to specialize—in medicine. It attracts linguists from all over the world, most coming from France and the UK. This article reviews the 2018 conference, which was held over five days at the medical school of Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1. As registration for the 2020 conference will open early next year, now seems to be a good time to spread the word!
In March 2018, participants (nicknamed “SAMistes”) who were lucky enough to arrive in town a bit early attended a welcome cocktail party on Sunday night. Newcomers were given the chance to start getting to know other participants over a glass of wine and plates of local charcuterie and cheeses, while old friends from previous conferences greeted each other joyfully, happy to reconnect.
Lectures and terminology sessions
The conference format alternates medical lectures (presented in French or English by expert guest speakers) with related terminology sessions led by Nathalie Renevier, a renowned translator, translation instructor, and terminologist who has translated numerous health and medical publications. The 2018 conference presentations covered a wide range of subjects: acute medical care, developmental coordination disorder, type 2 diabetes, the MeSH thesaurus, schizophrenia, dermatology, PTSD, and European Medicines Agency templates. In 2016, the presentations were just as diverse, including sessions on Alzheimer’s disease, influenza viruses, statistical analysis for clinical trials, and three cancer-related presentations.
All attendees can benefit from the lectures, which are presented simply enough to appeal to newbies but nevertheless provide enough detailed information to satisfy the intellectual curiosity of seasoned members of the field. The terminology sessions, in which audience participation is encouraged, are invaluable for our community of linguists. The organizers facilitate the learning process by providing all presentations, including all the terms discussed during terminology sessions and many valuable references, shortly after the event. Personal medical glossaries no doubt expand tremendously by the end of the workshop!
Hands-on learning
The first afternoon of the week is always spent working hard: the SAMistes are split into small groups to translate a 350–500-word excerpt from a selection of medical texts. In 2018, possible passages featured subjects as varied as genetic mutations, lip physiopathology, bulimia, and schizophrenia. The texts are sent before the conference, and most of the participants read them in advance; some even manage to prepare a draft translation to use as a starting point. Working in groups is not common in our profession, so this exercise offers participants a rare opportunity to glimpse colleagues’ methods for tackling a translation task, share tips and favorite resources (both paper and online), and brainstorm the perfect term or idiomatic expression to produce the best collaborative target text.
Over the course of the week, each group presents their translation to all the participants, with one of the guest speakers or organizers answering questions and providing feedback.
The extras
SAM offers multiple opportunities to network, chat with colleagues, and have fun, whether during the coffee breaks, over lunch at one of the nearby restaurants, or while attending the specially organized gourmet dinner. In 2018, attendees also enjoyed a guided tour of the fascinating exhibit Venenum: A Poisonous World at the architecturally stunning Musée des Confluences (https://xl8.link/204).
Some fun to conclude the hard work
In what has now become a tradition, SAM concluded on Friday afternoon with two translation slams (one for each translation direction) between two translators brave enough to each present their own translation of the same satirical scientific article. If you want an idea of the type of humor, check out the Onion article chosen for the 2018 English-to-French slam (https://xl8.link/203).
Attendance has grown steadily over the years; 2018 saw 60 participants, including the organizers and the terminologist. Almost three fourths of them were returning SAMistes. No wonder, as the format is quite addictive, as are the culinary delicacies of the host city! As a mise en bouche, the full program for 2018 is available at https://xl8.link/206.
An English into French translator since 2010, Anne-Charlotte Giovangrandi moved to the San Francisco Bay Area from her native Switzerland almost 20 years ago. Holding a translation certificate from New York University and a master’s degree in psychology from the University of Lausanne, she has developed a double specialization, translating patient-facing medical documents and transcreating marketing/advertising content (high jewelry in particular), an area in which she can let her creativity run free.