Drug Label Translation Service Expanding

Fort Worth Star-Telegram - October 5, 2003

Misreading prescription labels can be a fatal mistake. For those who don't speak English, the chances of a tragic misunderstanding are multiplied.

To a Spanish-speaking person, for instance, a label that says "Take once a day" could be dangerously misinterpreted because "once" is Spanish for 11.

According to a recent study by TransPerfect Translations, a translation company, nearly 10 percent of children have been given medication incorrectly because of translation problems. In a survey of 529 people who speak English as a second language, 28 percent said they have guessed at the proper dosage of a prescription because they were unsure of the instructions.

Since last year, Walgreen Drug Stores have provided prescription-label translations in Spanish, Chinese, French, Polish, Portuguese, Russian and Vietnamese. Now Walgreens is adding German, Italian and Tagalog (for Filipinos).

After the pharmacist enters the prescription directions in English into the computer system, software developed by Walgreens translates the instructions and prints the label.

—Aman Batheja

About TransPerfect
With revenue of over $250 million, TransPerfect is the largest privately held language services provider in the world. From offices in 66 cities on 5 continents, TransPerfect offers a full range of services in over 100 languages to multinationals worldwide. With a global network of over 4,000 linguists and subject-area specialists, TransPerfect is the largest translation company to be fully ISO 9001:2008 and EN 15038:2006 certified. TransPerfect is headquartered in New York and has regional headquarters in London and Hong Kong. For more information, please visit our website at www.transperfect.com.