Certified translation of French medical records

A recent client case study to provide a certified translation into English of French medical records for an official application to join the British Armed Forces

I was recently contacted by two separate, unrelated clients to provide a certified translation of French medical records for an application to join the British Army. It is quite a common request for me and the issue of translating French medical records to English is an interesting one, certainly worth a quick discussion in this blog post.

Why would you need a certified translation of your French medical records?

A certified translation, as I have covered in many other blog posts shown in my related posts below, is required when an official authority requires a translation – typically a government authority or department. Usually, you would be asked to provide a certified translation of a birth certificate, death certificate or other similar document. However, it happens that a certified translation of full medical records is much different, mostly due to the length of the documents in question.

What precisely are medical records?

Medical records will quite naturally be different for each and every individual. They comprise your full records from the date of your birth to the current day. Each and every interaction in any medical setting will be logged. They include your vaccination records when you were immunised as a child, any illnesses you suffered when young, and any other GP or hospital visits. Occasionally, if you have suffered any major illness or disease, they will also include hospital records and reports from surgery.

What are the challenges of translating medical records into English?

When translating medical records, the number one challenge lies in the sheer diversity of information. Being a medical translator and having to provide accurate translation of complex documents such as medical records is a little like going to medical school. Depending on the illnesses or diseases, surgery and other medical incidents, you are required to have a grasp of almost all forms of illness. Your medical knowledge and terminology are tested.

However, there is one additional challenge which does occasionally raise its head. Not all medical records are digitised. Sometimes they may include handwritten GP letters, prescriptions or even hospital reports. In addition to understanding the vast range of complex and advanced medical terms, it is also necessary to decipher medical handwriting. The old joke about difficulties in reading a doctor’s handwriting really do come true sometimes!

How long does it take to provide a certified translation of French medical records to English?

The length of time required will vary based primarily on the total number of words, the complex formatting and, as mentioned above, any additional time required to decipher any tricky handwriting.

Providing a certified translation means that the document is to be used for official purposes and it has to be 100% accurate. This takes time. Additionally, the document needs to be stamped and signed and a statement of truth provided by the translator for the purposes of certification. All of this adds a little longer to the overall process.

What about the cost of a certified translation of medical records?

As above, the cost of a certified translation will depend on the total number of words and format of the document. Typically, there is also a small additional fee for certification. In my case, this fee is kept low and is only applied once, regardless of the length or number of documents.

All in all, there are a lot of factors involved in providing certified translations of French medical records and the job can be very time consuming, require a lot of medical knowledge and equal amounts of research. A passionate job but one that is best left to an expert.

If you want to enquire about how much it would cost to translate your French medical records or any other medical document, get in touch today here and we will reply within the hour.