メルボルン在住通訳者翻訳者の荒木美琴です。佐々木サマーズ章子さんには、昨年東京で開催された日本翻訳者協会の会議に、４年ぶりの里帰りも兼ねて帰国、参加した際、お知り合いになり、JLDにお誘い頂きました。去年の終わりからATAに参加させて頂いています。
コロナ渦では、メルボルンは世界最長262日のロックダウンで、朝夕、州政府のコロナウィルスについてのお知らせを翻訳しました。章子さんに今日は、ICRとLQRの違いなど医療翻訳の特殊性について教えて頂きました。
毎日メルボルンで、医療通訳はしていますが、医療翻訳は、章子さんがおっしゃるように、命に関わるため責任が重く、身が引き締まる思いがします。また、専門用語が多く、ディスコースとしての医療翻訳は本当にハードルが高いですね。もし、機会があれば私も挑戦して、章子さんがおっしゃるよう、「直訳でなく、自然な訳文」になるよう、また「患者に好感を与え、ドクターにメッセージを伝える」等を心して頑張りたいと思います。また、「マーケティングに詳しい翻訳者と、医療翻訳者が組んで」なども素晴らしい案だと思いました。いろいろ貴重な経験や、リソースをシェアして頂き、大変勉強になりました。オーストラリア通訳者翻訳者協会では、JLDの様な言語特有の活動はまだ、なされていません。翻訳者は家にこもりがちになりますので、太平洋を越え、真夏のメルボルンからズームで有益な土曜日を過ごさせて頂き、大変励みになりました。これからも皆さん宜しくお願いします。今年は、11月下旬にオーストラリア通訳翻訳者協会の全国会議がメルボルンで開かれますので、よろしかったらいらっしゃってください。（Mikoto Araki 荒木美琴）
I have had the pleasure of meeting Sasaki san once in person at the Chicago ATA so it was a pleasure to listen to her presentation 文系出身者のための医療翻訳. A year ago, just before a pharma audit I had reached out to seek her advice and was the grateful recipient of valuable material related to CAPA which proved to be very useful in preparation for the project. It is heartening that there are still people like her who don’t hesitate to help others as well as share their expertise and reference materials to someone who is relatively new to pharmaceutical audit interpreting. Even though I started off as a medical writer at a pharma company in Tokyo over 2 decades ago, I have not been that lucky in procuring medical translation projects other than some adverse event documents and discovery related files. After about five projects related to pharma audits in the past two years, including one involving PMDA I confess that such interpretation is as taxing to the brain as an exciting learning experience. My first ever pharma audit interpretation about two years ago was courtesy an amazing agent who convinced me to take it on. Although I was promised some study materials in advance, absolutely nothing was forthcoming save a capability presentation. My client contact, undoubtedly overwhelmed with last minute preparations, but also recognizing my urgency/desperation suggested that I join them for a couple of hours mock site audit that they planning the day before. This proved to be a real eye opener. I was so relieved that even to the point of being annoying I managed to convince them allow me an exposure to the actual site. And oh, how very different that was compared to manufacturing sites that I had been used to!All my projects so far have been related to GMP audits of sterile manufacturing. I have benefited greatly from the plethora of information that is out there in the public domain starting with FDA warning letters, you tube videos showing sterile processing, CAPA, bioburden etc. This involved hours and hours of unpaid laborious work but was a rewarding learning experience. I cannot emphasize enough about creating thorough learning notes even it is via a word document and storing all the useful links to refer to. Taking a few paid GMP bootcamps also was a part of my learning strategy. I found that some Japanese clients are particular about past experience and these proofs of certificate of attendance may help.I should mention though that I had majored in chemistry from India several decades and worked for a couple of years in Japan as a medical writer after doing my Ph.D. in Japanese studies, I believe that one does not require a science background to interpret in pharma audits. Anyone who can diligently do focused study should be able to interpret at pharma audits with confidence. (Shivani Nandi)
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