Frequently Asked Questions
➤What languages do you translate?
I translate Simplified Chinese to English and Traditional Chinese to English.
Simplified Chinese is the written language used in the People’s Republic of China, Malaysia, and Singapore. Traditional Chinese is the written language used in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
➤Are you an interpreter?
I am a translator. I work exclusively with the written word in Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese documents. Interpreters work with the spoken word at depositions, court hearings, business negotiations, and medical appointments.
➤What is the difference between Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese?
Traditional Chinese is the written form of the Chinese language with origins dating back to the second millennium B.C. To promote literacy throughout China, the government of the People’s Republic of China introduced Simplified Chinese characters in 1946, . Many characters are the same in Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese.
➤What about Mandarin and Cantonese?
Mandarin is a spoken language with roots in Northern China. It is the official language of the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan.
Cantonese is a spoken language of Southern China and spoken by the majority of people in Hong Kong. Historically, Cantonese was the language used in Chinatowns in the United States.
➤What is the difference between Chinese, Japanese, and Korean?
Good question. I have written a blog post on this topic with practical suggestions for determining what type of document you have in front of you. Read the blog: Is This Document Korean, Chinese, or Japanese?
➤What translation services do you offer?
I provide Chinese to English medical translation services. Each translated document goes through a drafting process, extensive editing, and a final proofing of the target English.
My services encompass forward Chinese to English translation and back translation of Chinese documents for linguistic validation purposes.
➤What types of Chinese documents do you translate?
I translate articles from scientific journals, clinical trial documents, regulatory correspondence, and other medical materials in a range of fields. See Specializations pages for additional information.
I can help your organization succeed with precise translations of the following Chinese documents:
Adverse drug reaction (ADR) reports
Bioequivalence studies
Cardiology articles, neurology articles, oncology articles
Chinese articles (scientific articles, scientific papers, and scientific literature)
Clinical trial documents, including ethics committee approvals, Informed Consent Forms (ICFs), clinical study protocols, and Investigators' Brochures (IBs)
Clinician-Administered Dissociative States Scale (CADSS)
Drug labels, package inserts, patient leaflets, prescribing information, and Instructions for Use (IFUs)
Drug safety labeling changes
Evidence of effectiveness for FDA
Inclusion/exclusion criteria
Integrative and complementary modalities (acupuncture, tuina massage, Chinese herbal medicine, integrative medicine, traditional Chinese medicine)
Linguistic validation back translations
Medical articles (research articles, journal articles, case studies, and clinical study reports from Chinese journals, medical journals, scientific medical journals, and the medical literature)
Natural product research and chromatographic fingerprinting
Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs), including CDAI, QOL assessment, and WPAI questionnaires
Pesticide test reports
Pharmacovigilance and safety surveillance
Published papers (non-English published papers)
Reports on drug-drug interactions and drug-herb interactions
Serious adverse events (SAEs) tracked through Individual Case Safety Reports in WHO VigiBase, EudraVigilance, and FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS)
Substantial evidence and confirmatory evidence for FDA
➤What are your specializations?
Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices
Complementary and Alternative Therapies
Drug Development and Research Studies
Pharmacovigilance and Drug Safety
Global Health
➤Who uses your medical translation services?
Librarians, knowledge managers, information professionals
Researchers, clinical triallists, principal investigators
Translation coordinators and document managers
Regulatory affairs professionals, pharmacovigilance managers, drug safety specialists
Clinical herbalists, researchers, and practitioners of integrative medicine
➤What if I have a Chinese document for translation? What steps should I follow?
Send me the document using the Contact form and we can discuss the complexity of the document and your needs in terms of cost and delivery. Or send me an email and we can discuss.
➤Do you have another question?
Was your question answered? If not, send me an email and I will do my best to help.