For over a year, I’ve contemplated adding medical writing to my medical translation service portfolio. I’ve taken some courses in English, but I also want to offer writing services in Spanish, my second language. To do that, I would need some serious training, and to get the training, I would need to spend some money. I’m grateful to the New York Circle of Translators for awarding me a Charles M. Stern Autonomous Award that helped to defray my costs.
I registered for online courses through the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain. The university offers an asynchronous program called the Diploma de Experto en Redacción Médica (Lifelong Learning Degree in Medical Writing). The degree is a series of four courses, scheduled over a four-month period, that cover major aspects of medical writing and teach students what they need to know in order to break into the field. The instructors provide a wealth of learning materials in multiple formats: short ebooks, video lessons, podcast episodes, and more. Students study the materials on their own, then use what they learned to complete practical, scenario-based homework assignments. I started the classes about a month ago, and so far I’ve videotaped my answers to interview questions for a medical writing job, explained the drug development process on video and in writing, prepared an infographic on a new treatment for an aggressive type of breast cancer, and used AI tools to draft a newsletter article (which I had to edit heavily) and research a new drug’s safety profile (again, not a huge success).
I was a tiny bit surprised to learn the professors stress the importance of being proficient in English, even for native Spanish speakers who plan to write only in Spanish. Since so much of the medical literature is published in English, students are encouraged to practice conducting research in English so they can find as much information as possible. That aspect makes my homework assignments more interesting; I often collect information in English and then translate my own conclusions into Spanish as I draft answers to essay questions. Since I normally translate the other direction, this has been good for waking up my brain and making it reexamine terms and grammatical forms I don’t pay much attention to anymore.
The asynchronous study mode works well for me as a freelancer and a student living several time zones away from the university. Despite my location, I still have opportunities to communicate with teachers and classmates through the school’s online learning platform. And all the study materials can be downloaded, so I can keep using them for reference after I complete the coursework. Overall, I’m extremely happy with my decision to take these classes, and I appreciate the financial support NYCT gave me.
Danielle’s BIO:
Danielle Maxson has been translating since 2009 and specializes in medical translation with a focus on patient records. She is an ATA-certified Portuguese to English and Spanish to English translator and the chair of ATA’s Business Practices Education Committee. Before focusing on translation, she worked as a Spanish teacher and a medical interpreter. For more information, visit https://dmaxsontranslates.com.