What are the best practices for preparing medical content for translation in DITA?

November 10, 2023
|By Bryan Tipper

Preparing medical content for translation in DITA requires following best practices to ensure that the content can be accurately and efficiently localized into different languages. Effective translation practices help healthcare organizations maintain consistency and accuracy in medical information across languages and regions.

One best practice is to use structured content in DITA. Structured content ensures that medical information is broken down into meaningful, reusable components. This approach allows for efficient translation, as translators can work on individual topics or elements. For example, content can be divided into topics on specific medical conditions, treatments, or procedures. Each topic is self-contained and tagged with language information using the xml:lang attribute, making it clear for translators which language the content is in. This structured approach simplifies the translation process.

Another best practice is to provide clear context for translators. Use metadata, such as title and shortdesc elements, to provide context for the content. Including informative titles and short descriptions helps translators understand the purpose of each topic, making it easier for them to provide accurate translations. It’s essential to ensure that metadata is also tagged with language information to prevent confusion in multilingual content.

Example:

Here’s an example of a structured DITA topic for medical content with language tagging:

<topic>
  <title>Diabetes Management</title>
  <shortdesc>Guidelines for managing diabetes.</shortdesc>
  <body>
    <p>Effective diabetes management includes monitoring your blood <ph><foreign xml_lang="es">glucosa</foreign> levels regularly.</p>
  </body>
</topic>

By adhering to these best practices, healthcare organizations can streamline the translation process, improve the quality of localized medical content, and ensure that vital information is accessible and accurate for diverse language-speaking audiences.