need help with scientific names for diseases

Question

I'm translating a sexual addiction self-help book, and have long list of STDs to translate. I'm not a medical person at all, so do these "scientific" terms change from English to Spanish? Do I leave them the same? Do I onyl change the spelling conventions (no double consonants unless there's a sound change, no silent "h," "bacterium" to "bacteria")? Does anyone know of a website where I can find the proper translations of these diseases?

Chlamydia Trachomatis Bacterium [Chalmydia]
Herpes Simplex Virus (genital HSV-2), (oral HSV-1) [Herpes]
Neisseria Gonorrhea Bacterium [Gonorrhea]
Human Immuno-Deficiency Virus [HIV]
(Crabs) Sarcoptes Scabiei Parasite [Scabies]
Tyreponema Pallidum Spirochete (Bacterium) [Syphilis]
Trichomonas Vaginalis Protozoa [Trichomoniasis]
Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) [Venereal or Geniral Warts]

(one more!) Cytomegalovirus

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

¡Gracias!
Criss.

Answer 1

Gracias.

I wrote the terms how Lazarus had them, and the Latin words are italicized to "highlight" that they are foreign/non-Spanish words.

Answer 2

The answer is no, the terms are Latin, and do not need to be translated. Words like Bacteria and such, yes, of course.

Answer 3

I found my terms on Spanish sites, and they are the same as Lazarus states. He did say, he took them out of a Spanish dictionary, so , take his terms, they are the ones to use.

Answer 4

So... I need to change them to "clamidia tracomatis," etc.'

Answer 5

No, the words used in English are not international. They are not even all Latin, as many come from Greek. The spelling changes in each language (German, French, Spanish, English, etc.).

As Lazarus says, because of the influence of English (medical technology is one of the diminishing number of fields in which the US is still dominant), many doctors around the world learn to speak enough English to be able to read medical journals and pharmacological studies, and therefore may use the English terms interchangeably with the native terms, but that doesn't mean that a translator should leave them untranslated in English.

Answer 6

I didn't know if those changes would be made (omit h's, change y's to i's) from Eng to Spn since, as TimEivissa pointed out, the "scientific" names are in Latin (I don't know Latin, so I don't know how they spelled it...) I didn't want to assume and make the changes, then look like I was trying too hard, so to speak, to find a "Spanish" word.

One little thing that made me feel justified in using the same spellings as English was italicizing the words... made them seem more scholarly.

Criss.

Answer 7

Surely the medical terms are in Latin anyway and would be used by most doctors worldwide?
Hope I never have to make use of this thread!!!

Answer 8

If you go to the Google homepage and click on Language Tools, you can specify to search only for pages written in Spanish. There is probably a button you can add to the Google tool bar, but I don't have it. Personally, I usually just add the words los and que to my search string.

Also, if you do much medical translation, you'll note trends in spelling changes. For example, the Y in English is often replaced with I in Spanish as in chlamydia -> clamidia. Also note that the hard ch sound in English changes to C in Spanish. You can therefore guess at most spelling changes to search for the Spanish terms.

Answer 9

I have two medical translation dictionaries (one of them wasn't cheap), and many disagreements between different sources. I guess that the main reason is because some Spanish speaking doctors don't have the time to learn all these terms in Spanish, or it is just easier to use the English ones.

There are often terms where my dictionaries that don't always agree, but the ones I've posted match the English ones, and seem to describe the same diseases. The end results I've written have been verified by three Spanish doctors (not necessarily with a great English), for good or for bad.

I hope this helps you.

Answer 10

Gracias, a los dos.

I looked at several websites, but most of them were English sites translated into Spanish (Planned Parenthood, NY Online Access to Health) so I was hesitant to go with their translations. (One oif not both of these sites changes "chlamydia trachomatis" to "clamidia tracomatis.")

I'll try the Google "páginas en español" trick. That button hasn't jumped out at me (I was giving the evil eye to the "Search for pages only in English" link), but I'll find it!

Answer 11

Es un aburrimiento, criss, este hombre lo sabe todo...jeje

Answer 12

STD - Enfermedades de transmisión sexual

Chlamydia Trachomatis Bacterium [Chalmydia] - Bacteria chlamydia trachomatis (Clamidia/clamidias)
Herpes Simplex Virus - Virus del herpes simple (VHS)
Neisseria Gonorrhea Bacterium [Gonorrhea] - Bacteria Neisseria gonorrhoeae (Gonorrea)
Human Immuno-Deficiency Virus [HIV] - Síndrome de inmunodeficiencia adquirida (SIDA)
(Crabs) Sarcoptes Scabiei Parasite [Scabies] - Parásito sarcoptes scabiei (sarna)
Tyreponema Pallidum Spirochete (Bacterium) [Syphilis] - Bacteria espiroqueta treponema pallidum (Sífilis)
Trichomonas Vaginalis Protozoa [Trichomoniasis] - Protozoo (de la especie) trichomonas vaginalis (Tricomoniasis)
Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) [Venereal or Geniral Warts] - Virus del papiloma humano (VPH)

Cytomegalovirus - citomegalovirus

Answer 13

Hi chriss, you always surprise us with interesting posts:

Bacteria Chlamydia trachomatis (clamidia)
herpes simple tipo 1 (HSV-1) y tipo 2 (HSV-2). (herpes)
Bacteria Neisseria gonorrhoeae (gonorrea)

Ok, how did I find these? get into google and write the English name, click on "páginas en español" (do you have that function)'Voilá!