All Roads Do NOT Necessarily Lead to Rome: An Overview of Translation Methods

1
All Roads Do NOT Necessarily Lead to Rome An
Overview of Translation Methods

• Mayumi Anne Willgerodt PhD, MPH, RN
• University of Washington
• Center for the Advancement of Health Disparities
  Research, NINR, P20 NR08351-02

2
Why is this important?

• Increased migration patterns
• Increased recognition of health disparities
  nationally and internationally
• Increased funding opportunities to conduct
  cross-cultural research

3
What is cross-cultural research?

• Research that compares behaviors across two or
  more cultures
• Research with a cultural group other than your
  own
• Research using instruments that were intended for
  a different cultural group

4

• Purpose of translation is to achieve a
  functionally and conceptually equivalent version
  of an instrument that is culturally appropriate
• Three major types of translation methods
• Direct translation
• Back translation
• Committee approach

5
Translation Methods

• Direct Translation
• Source Target

6
Translation Methods

• Back-translation
• 1
• Source Target
• 3 2
• Source

7
Translation Issues

• Translators are unaware of rigorous translation
  requirements
• Some content areas are linguistically challenging
• Translators may not be knowledgeable about the
  content area
• Translators may be overly competent
• Bilinguals are different from monolinguals

8
Translation Methods

• Committee Method
• Source Target
• Source Target Target
• Source Target

9
Translation checking

• Pilot testing
• Focus groups

10
Additional Points to Consider

• Original instruments must be clear
• Choose method depending on the research question
• Examine the answering scales
• The ideal translation process involves
  professional translators, monolingual individuals
  representative of study population,and multiple
  bilingual individuals

11
(No Transcript)