Working languages:
German to English

Heather Starastin
Medical translator since 1999

Canada
Local time: 19:28 EDT (GMT-4)

Native in: English 
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Have you ever heard these words?

  • Horripilation
  • Veisalgia
  • Rhinorrhoea
  • Sternutate
  • Formication

If you have never heard these terms before, chances are your translator hasn't either, unless they are a medical specialist. Medicine is an especially sensitive area of translation which requires the utmost discretion and expertise, not only because of the highly confidential nature of the information translated but also because errors in medical reports, patient leaflets etc. can have serious consequences.

I have been working full time as a freelance translator since 1999, and began specializing in medical translation in 2011 while training in Germany as a naturopath (Heilpraktikerin). In Germany, this profession is heavily regulated and you are required to obtain a thorough grounding in anatomy, physiology, pathology, hygiene and the law as it applies to medicine. You also have to pass a state examination to demonstrate that you will not pose a risk to public health when you start practising (e.g. because you are unable to recognize that a patient may have a notifiable disease or are unaware that patients with kidney disease should not be prescribed potassium supplements). This is a fascinating area of study which I have been lucky enough to make the main focus of my translation work.

So what do those terms mean?

  • "Horripilation" sounds very close to "horrible", but it is simply the medical term for goosebumps.
  • "Veisalgia" is a term coined around 20 years ago to describe the state of being hung over.
  • "Rhinorrhea" has nothing to do with rhinoceroses, it just means that you have a runny nose.
  • To "sternutate" means to sneeze.
  • "Formication" describes the feeling of small insects crawling on your skin.

To conclude...

If you need a hospital report or any other kind of medical text translated from German to English and are looking for the right person for the job, feel free to contact me and we will take it from there.


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Profile last updated
Jan 3



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