What companies or institutions has LMC worked for?

In eleven years of service we have worked for a variety of organizations such as:

Medical Academies (The American Academy of Family Physicians, The American Academy of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, The American Society of Internal Medicine), Federal Government Agencies (The National Institutes of Health Library in Bethesda Maryland), Academic Centers(St. Jude’s Hospital and Medical Centers in Memphis Tenn.), Medical Companies (Phillips Medical Systems,  Johnson  & Johnson Medical,  Depuy Orthopedics,  Siemens Medical), Insurance Companies (Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Adventist Health Systems),  Monitoring and Communication device companies  (SpaceLabs Medical), Pharmaceutical Companies (Pfizer,  Wyeth- Ayerst),  Diagnostic companies (Meridian Bioscience, Abbott Laboratories),  Medical Publishers (Lippincott Williams  & Wilkins), etc.

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What things do I need to look for in a prospective translation and service language provider?

1. Expertise in the same knowledge field of your projects.


2. References (not logos or testimonials) from clients that have worked with the language service provider which you can contact via telephone  or e-mail.


3. Language service providers that have verifiable  long term relationships with their clients. One isolated assignment with a big company does not prove anything.


4. Always have a live person you can talk to; e-mail or voice mail messages are no substitutes.


5. If possible ask the prospective language provider to show you examples of similar projects they have worked on.

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What things to avoid when looking for a prospective translation and service language provider?

1. Extra fancy and flashy websites that take a long time to load and offer translation and language services in all industries and languages.


2. Claims that are totally unrelated to the services that these companies provide: saving lives, being the only company approved by regulatory organizations whose objectives are not to regulate the language and service industries, being endorsed by the European Union etc.


3. Companies that rely on their client logos to sell their services.


4. Companies that have offices and representatives in every single time zone and exotic city.


5. Companies whose focus is saying they are the only good ones in that field and rely on being on Who´s Who CD´s and other similar lists.

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What characterizes a good language professional?

1. Being a native speaker of the language into which the material is being written (target language).


2. Having practical experience and an academic degree in the subject area of the language service.


3. Being a good writer as a result of  having good knowledge of grammar and linguistics.


4. Licensing or certification in the subject area and accreditation or license in target language translation.


5. Active participation in translation and interpretation organizations which offer ongoing training and support or in translation web discussion forums.


6. Having lived or traveled a lot in the countries of the source and target text languages.


7. Being an avid reader of the topics related to their specialty.

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Does it matter if I can contact the translator directly?

You need to be able to communicate with the person that works in your projects in case that either of you have questions or need clarification. Remember, a language professional is only as good as the material that he receives. Nobody reads your material as thoroughly as your translator or editor. A good translator or editor, with your input,   can correct errors or inconsistencies in the original, and enhance the comprehension of your text if you can get in touch with him. 

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What is the major pitfall of using a non specialized translation and service language provider?

The most critical part of any translation or language adaptation is selecting a good language service professional. Not understanding the text and its content make it impossible to select the most knowledgeable person to work on it.

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Why is it important to select a translation and service language provider that specializes in the biomedical industry?

1. Because companies that are run by scientists have relationships with specialists in medicine and many allied health professions as well as linguists that work exclusively as medical editors. The best guarantee that you have for a project well done is to have someone that understands the material in depth, and that has many resources easily available to elucidate the things that they do not understand. Chances are that if you are selling a knee implant, you are not going to have internists promote them. You will go to an orthopedic surgeon. We do the same; we match your product to a specialist in the same area because they are much better equipped than anyone else to understand and explain in clear terms the characteristics of your implant.


2. The more technical the subject matter to be worked on the more critical it becomes that the translators or editors are specialized. The last thing that you want is for these professionals to be learning the material at your expense. Your chances of having your work done by language service professionals that are knowledgeable increase tremendously if you chose a company that works exclusively in the same field as yours.


3. Good translation and language service professionals do not like to or need to work on subjects that they do not know. For that same reason, good translators work with few companies that provide them the material that matches their specialty. And the more work they do for the same company or product, the better they get at providing you with consistent pieces of information.


4. A specialized company has a solid relationship with their language professionals. A translation and service language provider is only as good as the people they hire to work on your projects. For that reason, good language professionals work for companies that continue to send them work for the same product or service. As these individuals build and use specialized glossaries they become more productive and consistent and they can focus more on writing better. This translates into better quality work and faster turnaround times for your projects.


5. Specialized translators have many specialized textbooks, subscribe to and read  specialty journals, have colleagues that they can get in touch with, and belong to internet discussion groups where they clarify the doubts they may come across.


6. Worldwide, there are not that many truly specialized biomedical and allied health language professionals. Frequently, these professionals know each other because they work for the same editorial companies and they meet at conferences, internet discussion groups as well as medical translation symposia. Having access to these professionals is a tremendous advantage that translates into excellent quality.

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What procedure do you follow to assign my projects to your language service professionals?

We always match the assignment with the most qualified language service professional that is available in the specific discipline of your materials. With very few exceptions, we almost always use a native speaker who knows both source and target language cultures well. In those rare instances in which the translator is not native, the editor assigned to the same project will always be a native target language speaker. Since our projects are mostly repeated business, we almost always try to use the same team of language service professionals for your company’s projects to ensure consistency in terms and style.

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How strictly can medical language specialists adhere to the deadlines?

Time frames for completion are part of the information received with your free quote. Completion of extra large or urgent projects depends upon the language professional’s workload at the time. In general, having very tight deadlines in this type of line of work is not the best. The reason for it is that large projects with tight deadlines need to be split amongst many language professionals. The more people involved in a project, the least likely it is that when you read the work completed the text flows well. Good language professionals frequently pass-up jobs rather than produce substandard materials due to client urgency.

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What forms of payment are accepted?

We accept US drawn checks 30 day net. For overseas clients we can take payment by wire transfers. It is requested that our customers sign a translation agreement with specific information about payment.

How much do you charge?

That depends entirely on what we are contracted to do. For document translation that does not involve extensive formatting, there is a competitive per word charge rate that reflects the technical nature of the text.  Simple text will be charged at the bottom of the range and vice versa. For editing and proofreading, after examining the quality of the translation or edit job given to us, we charge an hourly rate. Desktop publishing and cross-cultural adaptations depend entirely upon the project; small projects may have a flat rate, and more complicated projects are charged per hour or per target or source word. Our Desktop publishing and adaptation charges are very competitive as well. With a quote, you always receive an estimate of the cost, as well as the time for completion. Discounts are often available for assignments involving large amounts of text that do not have to be completed in a short time frame. In addition, if you refer us to another client we will credit a discount towards your next translation. We are pleased to offer introductory discounts to first-time customers.

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Is there a charge for rush services?

At LMC, we do not charge extra for rush assignments. However, most translators and agencies do charge for rush services. The surcharge can be as high as 50 % or even more.

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Can you format our documents so they are immediately ready for printing?

For the most part, we use the same software programs that were used originally to format the projects we receive from our clients. For word text we use PC Office Professional programs, and for desktop publishing we use Macintosh including programs such as Quark Xpress as well as those that are part of Creative Suite (InDesign, Photo shop, Illustrator, Acrobat). If you do not have DTP programs installed in your computer, we can provide you with PDF files so that you can evaluate our work before sending it to the printing companies. The idea behind translating DTP projects is that for those languages that use a Latin alphabet, if you have it in English, we can translate it into other languages directly in the DTP software, and provide you with print ready projects in your target language without you having to incur in extra graphic design charges from your advertising company. The key is always to ask the advertising company to burn you   a "collect for output" CD that contains your files, fonts, graphics and other project components. We also work in HTML and XML format for websites; especially in XML format so that you have more flexibility with the media you want your files to be displayed in.

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What type of resources do you use to assure good and consistent translations?

After selecting the right team of language professionals, we gather as much information about the product or service as the client can provide us, using this information critically, we build glossaries which we consult and update as more assignments are received. Our language professionals have numerous resources such as many specialized glossaries, textbooks and dictionaries, and they also use web resources, links, colleagues, as well as professional organizations and many internet discussion groups. For certain projects with repetitive text and in those industries where this is allowed, we also use computer aided translation software that assure consistency and save you money and time.

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What are the differences between LMC and a typical translation agency?

LMC is a resource for companies that are serious about becoming competitive leaders amongst non-English speakers in the medical, scientific or biotech fields, or are renowned institutions that provide resources for patient care and scientific and medical training worldwide amongst non-English speakers. LMC provides them with specialized biological science language professionals whose expertise and native language match their needs, in order to enable them to communicate, share or present their products, research or ideas in clear, concise and culturally appropriate ways.

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How will I benefit from using Latino Médica Consultants?

Our specialized market niche and strong focus enables us to provide you with excellent biological sciences language services. As a small company dedicated to client service and satisfaction, your assignments will always be handled with the utmost efficiency and attention to detail. Also, for every client you refer us, we will give you a discount on a future assignment.

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