Medical terminology and discourse

Abstract

By far the most challenging aspect of translating medical source texts is their abundance of medical terminology. In many cases, the brunt of the translation work consists of establishing appropriate target equivalents for the technical terms. The problem is compounded by widespread terminological variation, homonymy, polysemy, false friends and the use of abbreviations. There have been several attempts at terminological normalisation or standardisation, largely resulting, however, in competing standards. Term variation can be functional, however: the chapter illustrates that medical communication functions in a variety of discourse settings, necessitating different terminological choices. The chapter goes on to discuss the role that language technology can play in the management of medical terminology and closes with some general hints on the types of sources that may be useful in researching the meaning, usage and translation of medical terms.