Table Of ContentTranslators’ Introduction
Emmanuelle Coste and Louisiane Delannoy
In September 2001, the Fanconi Anemia Research Fund (FARF) approached the
Monterey Institute of International Studies to see if students from the Graduate School
of Translation and Interpretation would be interested in translating its manual, entitled
Fanconi Anemia: A Handbook for Families and Their Physicians. We were both
interested in medical translation and thought the project would also be a
terminological challenge. We thought it sounded like an interesting undertaking, as it
would be useful to families and medical professionals dealing with the disease.
Indeed, it would be very gratifying to see our work on the Fanconi Anemia Research
Fund website (http://fanconi.org) and to know that it would somehow contribute to
the understanding of the disease. Throughout the translation process, we were in
contact with the Canadian and French Fanconi Anemia associations (respectively
Fanconi Canada and Association Française sur la Maladie de Fanconi, AFMF). They
are both extremely eager to receive the French version of the manual. We all hope that
medical research on this orphan disease will benefit from the manual reaching a larger
audience, as more people might become involved in the trials and more specialists
aware of this genetic disorder. Overall, it was a very interesting, extremely engaging
and, in the end, fun project. We are both very excited to see it published and made
available to the families who might need it.
The manual, written by Lynn and Dave Frohnmayer, was first published in 1993.
Both Lynn and Dave Frohnmayer have been actively involved with research on the
disease and support to families affected by it. Dave is the President of the University
of Oregon and the vice-president of the FARF. Lynn has a Masters in Social Work
and is the Advisor to the Fund’s Board of Directors. She is also the editor of the FA
Family Newsletter. Three of their five children were born with FA and two of them
died of complications from the disease. The manual is regularly updated to reflect
new research, treatment, tests and findings on the disease. This is the third edition,
published in 2000.
FA is a rare genetic disorder that is not well known. The manual provides much
needed basic information regarding the disease for those directly affected by it,
including patients, their families, friends and physicians, as well as researchers. The
manual can be used as a reference source; it brings together up-to-date information
from various specialists, researchers and medical centers. It is easily available since it
is both in print and published online. The French translation is all the more important
since AFMF has very little information available and lacks the resources to issue or
maintain up-to-date publications. Similarly, the Canadian association has an English
language website but no information in French.
The manual is divided into two very distinct parts. In the first part, we have the
chapters written by Lynn and Dave Frohnmayer. The chapters give an overview of the
disease, its symptoms, treatment options and general information to help the families
deal with the diagnosis of FA. The text in those chapters (and in the appendix B also
written by Lynn Frohnmayer and dealing with families’ reactions to the diagnosis)
was written “by lay people for lay people” (see Introduction, p. 1 of original). We
therefore had to forgo some of the technical terminology. For example, we decided
against “fratrie” for “sibling”. The English word “sibling” is very common but the
French equivalent “fratrie” is not commonly used, and we opted to use “frère ou
soeur” throughout the manual. When the English original used “red blood cell”, we
had to use “globule rouge” rather than “erythrocyte” in order to respect the tone of the
original text. In the chapters and in appendix B we encountered style issues and
problems with social, religious and cultural references specific to the US. There were
several references to faith and religion, especially as a way to face the disease and
find solace. However, these references would not work in France (which, even though
it might not be the only market for our translation, will probably be the main one).
Indeed, an article published in Le Monde Diplomatique in September 2001 studied the
difference in faith and attitude towards religion between the US and France. Only 5%
of Americans claim to be without a religion, compared to 45% of French people. The
attitude in France is therefore very different and, even though it is acceptable for
Americans to assume that everyone believes in God or has a religious affiliation, that
is not acceptable and can even be offensive to a French person. Moreover, religion is
a very private matter in France that has no place in business, politics, medicine or
education. It is a difference between cultures that we had to take into account, and in
this instance we just went with our instincts, put ourselves in the shoes of the reader.
We decided to drop most of these references (see appendix B, p. 46 of the original,
“blessed innocent child” that we translated by “enfant innocent”). The overall
informal tone of the manual was also a challenge as a manual of the sort would be
much more formal in French. The attitude of the writers, instead of being detached
and factual as it would be in French, was empathetic and concerned (see original,
chapter 4, bottom of page 35 and appendix B “blessed innocent child”). The writers
chose to take the hand of the readers and guide them through every step of the
diagnosis, treatment and reaction to the disease, walking the readers through their
emotions and giving advice on how to deal with them. It is a typically American
attitude and is unusual for a French audience (“fight back”, appendix B, p. 47 seems
unnecessary in French but we opted to keep it and translate it as “Il ne faut pas vous
laissez aller, battez vous.”). The titles of chapter 4 “Coping with FA” and appendix B
“Fanconi Anemia: Reactions of Families on the Receiving End” are probably not
something one would find in an equivalent French document and it was a constant
challenge to be faithful to the original and yet avoid sounding awkward. Indeed, the
text in these sections did not deal with facts or give objective information about the
disease but dealt with emotions and reactions from patients and their families. These
matters would be left to the individuals and families in France, where people are more
private about their emotions. The style in appendix B was also difficult to render in
French because of expressions such as “it isn’t happening” (p. 45), which cannot be
translated literally into French. A more idiomatic way to say it was necessary and we
decided to say “Je rêve, ce n’est pas possible”.
It was also difficult to deal with references to the healthcare system, as they are
very different in the US, in France and in Canada or other countries that would benefit
from our French translation (see appendix C, p. 54 in the original, regarding HMOs).
In appendix B, p. 46, the text mentioned health insurance “if there is any”, which had
to be “localized”, since in France everybody is entitled to health care. In another
instance, we had to find the French equivalent for the National Marrow Donor
Program (chapter 2, p.24 in the original), as French marrow donor or recipients would
want to be able to contact them. We searched the Internet and were able to determine
that they could turn to an organization called “France Greffe de Moelle”. Of course, in
that case, we opted to find an answer only for our French audience and not our other
possible francophone audiences. However, we were not able to find an existing
overnight letter delivery services into the US for blood or tissue samples (from France
or Canada or other country; see appendix T, p. 143 in the section entitled “How do
you furnish a blood sample?”, and appendix U, p. 148, in the sections entitled “Skin
sample collection” and “Blood sample collection”).
In the second part, we have the appendices, written by researchers and medical
specialists. They are straightforward scientific texts and were not difficult as far as
style or tone were concerned. The main difficulty was terminology. We did
tremendous terminological research for their translation (see our medical/specialized
glossary of approximately 400 terms). The terminology is very specific. We had to
make sure our French terminology was both accurate and widely accepted by the
medical profession. We used many terminological websites and references, including:
La greffe de moelle osseuse (www.ouest-transplant.org/moelle.html), Termium
(www.termium.com), Glossaire de l’Association Française contre les Myopathies
(www.afm-france.org), Le Conseil Génétique (www.cs-i.com/pédiatrie), Faculté de
Médecine de Rennes (www.med.univ-rennes1.fr), Orphanet (www.orpha.net),
Medinfos informations médicales (www.medinfos.com), EUFAR European Fanconi
Anemia Research, Vulgaris Medical (www.vulgaris-medical.com), Caducée
(www.caducee.net) and more. However, finding references and parallel texts in
French was almost impossible for some of the very cutting-edge research in the
manual. Because FA is an orphan disease, there is very little medical literature
available. Finding resources was even more difficult for the more technical sections of
the manual (see appendix K, p. 104 related to GHVD), or when dealing with very
recent genetic research (appendices H “Mutation Analysis of Cloned FA Gene”, L
“Gene Therapy: Risks and Potential” and M “Mosaicism in FA”). We had to read up
on genetic heredity (appendix F “Autosomal Recessive Inheritance”), basic biology
(appendix E “Cells, Chromosomes and Genes”) both in French and English (see list of
websites mentioned earlier in the paragraph). However, as we advanced in the
translation and our knowledge of the disease and medical concepts expanded, we
were able to deal with the difficulties better and faster. For example, by the time we
came upon the section on graft rejection in appendix K (p. 107 in the original), we had
already read many parallel texts on graft procedures (in particular from the Ouest
Transplant website) and were therefore able to recognize the terminology more
quickly (“fludarabine”, “sang de cordon”…).
Drug names presented a challenge as well. In appendix J, p.85 in the original, the
drug Cytoxan® is found under the name Eutoxan® in Europe. We opted to indicate
both names to avoid confusion. Also, in chapter 2, p.25 in the original, there is a
reference to Anadrol®, which has been withdrawn from the market in France. We left
the drug name and simply included an appropriate translator’s note at the end of the
chapter. It seemed appropriate to draw the reader’s attention to this fact. We believe it
is part of the translator’s job to identify these issues, but we cannot spend time
resolving all of them, as it would take us too long, possibly leading to significant
overruns in the time allotted to the translation.
Appendices K “Alternate Donor Transplant for Patients with FA” and N
“Gastrointestinal Tract and FA” both deal with very specific medical procedures and
use extremely technical medical terms. We had to turn to the original authors to help
us understand the text and find the appropriate terminology in French. It was difficult
for us to find competent people with knowledge of both French and English because
FA is a rare disorder.
We also relied on a number of other sources for terminological issues. We were in
close contact with Nicole Westrich, Family Support and Administrative Assistant at
the FARF, for clarifications of terminology. She was very precise and prompt in her
responses. In addition, as a parallel project, we translated a part of the website of
Fanconi Canada. The association had the translation reviewed by a bilingual FA
specialist who, it turned out, made no terminological changes to our translation. This
came as a confirmation that we were using the appropriate medical and specialized
terminology and finding the right resources. Finally, AFMF provided us with a French
translation of a shorter and previous version of the manual. That translation was done
by a volunteer, with no training in translation but who knew the disease and
terminology very well. Although we received the translation very late in our project
and the translation took many liberties with the original, we knew that the
terminology used was correct and therefore, it helped us once again confirm that our
terminological choices were right.
Finally, we chose to leave the names of the hospitals, medical and research centers
as well as laboratories in English when they appeared in the titles of the appendices.
For instance, we thought that if somebody wanted to contact Blanche Alter, they
would have to know that they can find her at the University of Texas Medical Branch
(see appendices Q and R). If we translated these names into French, families or
physicians might not be able to locate the specialists. In the body of the text, we
originally chose to put the names of these institutions in English and add the French
translation in parentheses but this method proved heavy at times, in which case, we
just used the French name (see appendix J, p. 89: we left the name in French because
the acronym was in the title and helped the reader know what was being referred to),
or the English name: some terms are easy to understand, even for those who are not
familiar with English (“University of Oregon” would be easily understandable to a
French-speaking reader).
We encountered a few other problems along the way, particularly as we were
putting together the final draft of the translation. We had to reorganize appendices as
we were instructed to skip appendices W and X (both irrelevant for non-US or non-
English-speaking readers). Formatting was difficult, in particular because it was a
very long project executed in many different files. That difficulty was increased by
the fact that this was a team effort and we wanted the final project to be flawless for
online publication and possible paper publication. We had to create a style sheet so
that all chapters and appendices would be coherent.
We both wish to sincerely thank Professor Chukwu without whose support, kindness,
patience and expertise we would not have been able to complete this project; Nicole
Westrich for her prompt responses and her enthusiasm and Christian Degueldre for
taking on this huge editing nightmare. Louisiane wishes to thank her American
parents, Mr. and Mrs. Heffernan for looking up information in their biology book,
assisting her with online research and brainstorming on the subject of polar bodies.
Emmanuelle wishes to thank her parents for their suggestions concerning style and
Jeff for his support.
ANEMIE DE
FANCONI
Manuel pour les familles
et leur médecins
Troisième édition, publiée en mars 2000
Lynn et Dave Frohnmayer
Traduit de l’anglais par Emmanuelle Coste et Louisiane Delannoy
[logo] Fanconi Anemia
Research Fund, Inc.
ANEMIE DE FANCONI : Manuel pour les familles et leur médecin
par Lynn et Dave Frohnamyer
Edition, design, mise en page et conception de la couverture : Joyce Owen
Traduction : Emmanuelle Coste et Louisiane Delannoy
Copyright© 2000
Première édition : Avril 1993
Deuxième édition : Mars 1995
Troisième édition : Mars 2000
Les textes de ce livre peuvent être reproduits avec la permission des auteurs ou de
l’éditeur. Des exemplaires supplémentaires peuvent être obtenus de l’éditeur en
écrivant à :
Fanconi Anemia Research Fund, Inc.
1801 Willamette Street, Suite 200
Eugene, Oregon 97401
Téléphone: 001-541-687-4658
Fax: 001-541-687-0548
Courriel: [email protected]
Site Internet : http://fanconi.org
Nous tenons à remercier tout particulièrement Joyce Owen pour avoir consacré des
heures et des heures à la correction, le design et la correction des épreuves des trois
éditions de ce Manuel. Merci à Mary Ellen Eiler pour nous avoir fait bénéficier de son
expertise en révisant ce manuel.
Description:Three of their five children were born with FA and two of them The attitude of the writers, instead of being detached and factual as it would be in
