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Article published In: The Journal of Internationalization and Localization
Vol. 3:1 (2016) ► pp.74–94

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Language localization in scientific drug information

 | KU Leuven, Faculty of Arts, Campus Sint-Andries, Antwerp, Belgium
Published online: 30 August 2016
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https://doi.org/10.1075/jial.3.1.05wer
Although localization is, in the first place, related to the cultural adaptation and translation of software and websites, it is important for written materials as well. In this paper we investigate how specialized medical discourse used in the Summary of Product Characteristics (SmPC) is localized in patient leaflets (PL). Both documents are issued by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and provide detailed information on the product compiled and distributed by the drug manufacturer, after EMA review and approval. We describe by means of a case study the formal and linguistic features of SmPCs and PLs and we investigate how the specialized source text is localized in its patient-friendly version. The aim of this investigation is to increase awareness and understanding of localization strategies adopted on the intralingual level in the communication of scientific-medical knowledge to a non-expert audience.
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[no author supplied]
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