Multi-Language Translation

ANALYSIS & Scenario

Approx Participants:   40

Home Office:              7

Main Countries:          China 30, plus subsidiary personnel

Questions: Should you have a Mandarin interpreter?

The meeting is taking place in Bangkok, 30 investigators attending are Chinese fluent in manganese.

30 of these investigators and coordinators do not speak English as their primary language, and all presentation are done in English.

Some attendees have little to some English exposure; this becomes difficult for everyone involved.  The Attendees get frustrated and the presenters are not able to get their points across.

There are many words and phrases that are lost in translation.  The presentations flow quickly and the investigator can not absorb and translate quickly enough.  Resulting in much needed important information getting lost or distorted.  Often you will find the investigators, especially Asians, will not admit they didn’t fully grasp the topics out of embarrassment and pride. They will not be fully trained able to explain the details, side effects, and other important parts to their patients. They will not have confidence in the drug study or the physician. 

Solution

The reason for having an investigator/medical meeting in the first place is to gather the physicians face to face and present to them the clinical information regarding the study.  The most important take away from these meetings should be a complete comprehension of the presentations given and information communicated for this study.

Hire a translation company with a good reputation that has interpreters with medical background and are fluent in both languages as well as having great communication skills and knowledge of the culture.

This works out best for the investigators, as well as the meeting and study.   This small investment in having interpreters is worth the money spent to improving the retention and understanding of it investigators and attendees.  The feedback received at the varies meetings that Summit Management coordinated shows that the investigators were able to have a greater understanding of the content of  meetings and they were able to ask  questions in their native language which closed all communication gaps.  This made the meeting much more effective and was greatly appreciated by the physicians.

Summary and Recommendations

Using interpreters at your international meeting provides the investigators and coordinators with a greater understanding of what the study entails and enables them to ask the questions they need during Q & A, by allowing then to feel comfortable that they are receiving the correct information.

Hiring interpreters is a small cost added to your budget.  Isn’t it worth having the best communication possible to ensure your study is successful and it is stable in China, or wherever else worldwide. 

Summit would be pleased to provide information on interpreters and handle the logistics for the international and domestic meetings.