Bridging language barriers between doctors and patients via technology
Universal Doctor is an application developed for smart phones and tablets with the purpose of facilitating communication and understanding between healthcare providers and patients of various origins. Translated in different European languages (English, Spanish, Slovak, French, Norwegian and soon in Greek) it is a project-initiative of a Spanish Doctor to watch out for, since it is about to occupy the EU medical market.
Regarding the process of localising such a software, it could be said that it is a great experience because it involves the combination of different disciplines such as language studies, software developing and online content editing. The process is simple as long as a log in user name and password is provided to the translator, who afterwards accesses the online platform, uses Spanish as a source language and creates linguistic content in his/hers target language (in this case Greek). Eventually, consulting reference material, such as translations in English, or any other already existing target language, becomes essential in order to achieve an accurate transfer of meaning.
You certainly do not want a patient to answer "My name is Richard Wright" to the question: "Do you have a headache?"
In a later stage, all phrases in source and target languages will be recorded and implemented in the software, so the operation system (PC, smart phone, tablet etc.) will not only display the dialogue on screen, but it will also "speak it out" to both counterparts (healthcare specialists and patients/visitors).
If you want to find out more about the Universal Doctor Project you can visit the links below in order to receive a better understanding of how this functions.
