A Study of the Adequacy and Effectiveness of Persian Translations of Drug Leaflets According to House Model

Translation is as much an art as a science. Today, all technologies and sciences are somehow interrelated. The present study attempted to investigate the adequacy of translation in drug leaflets based on House Model. Translation quality assessment (TQA) is a fundamental element of some translation theories. House's assessment model is based on Hallidayan Systemic-Functional Theory, and draws eclectically on Prague School ideas, speech act theory, pragmatics, discourse analysis and corpus-based distinctions between the spoken and written language. It provides the means for the analysis and comparison of an original text and its translation on three different levels: Language/Text, Register and Genre. Therefore, the researcher gathered the needful items in the translated version of the drug leaflets and also the original ones. House’s Model involves textual and register analysis of the ST and TT. The questionnaires filled by a group of ۴۲ patients and ۳۵ physicians within the age range of ۲۰-۴۰, as participants, as well as interviews made with some patients to gain information about how it would be healthy for patients if these texts are translated and also to what extent the patients can be informed of the side effects of drugs; and what their reaction will be after reading the translations. Focusing on the covert and overt translation and also checking and comparing the translated leaflets with the original ones help the research to be done. As a result, translating the texts of the drug leaflets is a necessary task, something which is, for some reason, neglected by the pharmaceutical companies. These texts are totally translatable and beneficial for the T audience except for some of the technical terms which can be replaced or accompanied by a description. Finally, as Iran is a constant importer of the drugs, translators can focus more to translate all non-translated drug leaflets.