Medical Mistranslation

I have to say, there's simply no excuse for mistranslation when working on the medical or health care subject.  It's people's health and money we're dealing with.  Nobody deserves to be baffled by mistranslated signs at hospitals or emergency rooms when so much is on the line.

Let's first look at the funny translation found on Pleated Jeans:

As much as one would like to rationalize how the translator decided on "Cunt Examination," there's actually a term for 阴道镜检查: Colposcopy.  Therefore, 阴道镜检查室 does not have a "dirty" name at all; it's just the Colposcopy Room!

As for "Fetal Heart Custody," I'm not sure who's supposed to be fighting over a fetal heart here.  胎心监护室 is the room where the doctors check an unborn baby's heart rate: Fetal Heart Monitoring Room.

Another error on this picture is Observation Room.  That applies only to the 观察室 part of the phrase.  药流, however, means medical abortion.  (Abortion is legal in China due to their government's one-child policy to control population.)  Therefore, the correct translation for 药流观察室 should be Medical Abortion Observation Room.

I was looking for the best way to translate 收费许可证 when I came across this:

  

It surprises me that almost everybody translates 收费许可证 as "license fee."  A license fee is a fee you pay to the government in order to be licensed to conduct a certain type of business, whereas a 收费许可证 is a license proving that you're allowed to charge people for services rendered.  The closest translation, I think, should be a billing license.

There is a lot of mistranslation on that hospital's website.  I'll get to it some other time.


Please translate responsibly.

Image credits: Pleated Jeans and Gongren Hospital.