Experience in managing volunteers doing translation of Cochrane evidence into simplified Chinese

Session: 

Oral session: Linguistic translation of Cochrane content

Date: 

Sunday 16 September 2018 - 14:00 to 14:20

Location: 

Carrick 3

All authors in correct order:

Lu C1, Wang Y1, Li J1, Li X1, Liu J2
1 Centre for Evidence-Based Chinese Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, China
2 Centre for Evidence-Based Chinese Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine；NAFKAM, The Arctic University of Norway, Tromso, Norway
Presenting author and contact person

Presenting author:

Chunli LU

Contact person:

Xun Li
Abstract text
Background: Our centre started co-ordinating Cochrane translation for simplified Chinese in 2014; we have been working on recruiting and training volunteers.

Objectives: To share our experience of organisation of simplified Chinese translation, explore a better pattern to meet 'Strategy to 2020', and to promote dissemination of Cochrane evidence all over the world.

Methods: Apart from recruiting volunteers who registered and applied to Cochrane, we also involved translators offline in Beijing University of Chinese Medicine (BUCM) and online by Wechat (a social medium in China). Those recruited had to pass a translation test, fill in a registration form, and finish the Cochrane translator registration. Regularly, we carried out translation training on evidence-based medicine knowledge, translation technique, and Cochrane Abstract translation pattern, and forwarded a Cochrane weekly digest (Fig 1). The Wechat group and email helped translators to communicate and consult on questions (Fig 2). We also developed a normative standard operation procedure (Fig 3) to apply, assign, translate, edit, publish and broadcast the Cochrane Abstracts and Plain language summary (PLS) and podcasts.

Results: We now have 95 online active volunteers from BUCM and other traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) colleges. We carried out two training sessions at BUCM in 2017. 76 Smartling users published 338,229 words, nearly 340 abstracts and PLS. We provided 26 translated podcasts on Cochrane.org to make evidence more accessible. We did about 20 Abstracts and PLS translations each month. We released all Cochrane evidence translations on Wechat, with an estimate of 9900 readers (990 active subscribers). During the change of translation platform from Smartling to Memsource, we maintained translation activities with podcasts and press releases, and we lost few volunteers.

Conclusions: Recruiting and organising translators both online and offline with Cochrane as well as our university base makes our translation team grow steadily. Soon we will consider running a survey to understand translators’ ideas and needs better, and to make translated Cochrane knowledge more accessible and more widely disseminated.

Patient or healthcare consumer involvement: We are working with translators interested in Cochrane evidence and EBM, who are also potentially healthcare consumers.

Attachments: 

PDF icon Fig1-3.pdf

Relevance to patients and consumers: 

We manage volunteers translating up-to-date Cochrane evidence into simplified Chinese with adequte quality and quantity, so patient/ healthcare consumers can assess to reliable Cochrane evidence of interest with easier reading even if they don't understand English.