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FEATURES @Linguist_CIOL FEBRUARY/MARCH The Linguist 25 Some of the translated phrases were seamlessly approved during the back-translation process. Reaching an agreement about accurate equivalents for words that described the intensity of pain, such as 'distressing' or 'discomforting', took longer due to the subtle differences between the options available to express these concepts in Spanish and other Romance languages. After four hours of discussion, it seemed we had achieved a semantic and conceptual equivalence in a harmonised way across the different language versions of the questionnaire. Once the meeting was over, we were asked to reflect on our notes and on our suggested amendments. We also filled in a review file with additional comments that were to be reviewed by the developer. Online limitations Not all questionnaire developers require physical meetings for harmonisation purposes. Sometimes I do the work online. The project manager introduces translators from the same language pair and target country by email. Each writes a back translation of the version of the questionnaire in their mother tongue, and then comments on and corrects the back translation of their co-worker. After reaching an agreement, they submit the final questionnaire to the project manager, and rate their colleague's files, commenting on punctuation, style, mistranslations, team work and attitude. This procedure aims to speed up the harmonisation process (although this may not always be the case) by limiting the discussion to the two translators and their project manager. However, I believe that verbal communication during the discussion stage leads to better results, especially if the language professionals have the opportunity to interact directly with the questionnaire developer, who is not involved in the online process until they receive feedback via the project manager. Before going through the harmonisation process, I would never have imagined that translating medical surveys would involve such a variety of participants, or demand so many steps prior to reaching respondents. I was fascinated by the different reactions that a single term could trigger, depending on the respondent's language, region, age and cultural background. The questionnaires aim to gather statistical information that could be used by medical or pharmaceutical researchers for various purposes. The misinterpretation of one word could lead to a completely different set of results, with an impact on the action taken following the research. The harmonisation process shows how translators are required to collaborate with each other, and how a project can be improved by team work. University study may give us the foundation for translating, but hands-on experience takes us further in our career progression through an understanding of the processes involved in real-life scenarios, the development of a broader range of techniques, and the insights we get from other professionals. Harmonisation does not refer only to the production of a harmonised text, but also to the idea of working in harmony as part of a team. PAINSTAKING WORK Colleagues discuss the translation in detail to ensure consistency across all language versions IMAGES © SHUTTERSTOCK