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

November 10, 2023
|By Bryan Tipper

Effectively preparing pharmaceutical content for translation in DITA involves following best practices to streamline the localization process and ensure the accuracy and consistency of translated materials. This is crucial in the pharmaceutical industry, where precise information is paramount for patient safety and regulatory compliance.

Use of Language-Neutral Elements

One fundamental practice is to use language-neutral elements and attributes whenever possible in DITA documents. Language-neutral elements, such as <pharmaceutical-name> and <dosage-instruction>, allow content creators to separate the content from specific language formatting or styling. This ensures that the core information can be easily translated without interference from language-specific tags. Content creators should refrain from embedding text in a way that makes it difficult to extract for translation, as this can lead to errors or inconsistencies in translated documents.

Manage Terminology and Glossaries

Pharmaceutical organizations should also maintain comprehensive terminology databases and glossaries. These resources should contain approved translations of key terms, drug names, and medical jargon. Integration of these resources into the DITA workflow allows translators to access and apply consistent terminology during the translation process. Additionally, terminology management tools can help maintain version control of glossaries and ensure that any changes or updates are reflected in both source and translated content.

Example:

Here’s an example demonstrating best practices for preparing pharmaceutical content for translation in DITA:


<topic id="patient_information" xml_lang="en-US">
  <title>Patient Information</title>
  <body>
    <p>ForDrug X**, the recommendeddosageis...

  </body>
</topic>

In this example, language-neutral elements like <pharmaceutical-name> and <dosage-instruction> are used to isolate content from language-specific formatting. This separation facilitates efficient translation processes and ensures consistency in pharmaceutical documentation across languages.