Translating medical terminology for laymen

Abstract

The present thesis attempts to define the most desirable strategy for translating English terminology for Dutch laymen in medical text. A chapter was chosen from the book Abnormal Child Psychology as the translation source text. First, the text was analyzed. Then a number of strategies were explained and weighed. A combination of two strategies was deemed most appropriate for the translation at hand. However, during the translation process it appeared that for certain parts of the text these two strategies were insufficient. Additional strategies were necessary. The conclusion of the present thesis states that for successful translation of English medical terminology for the Dutch layman more than one translation strategy may be necessary. Texts with a large amount of terminology may require more than two strategies.