Who is a medical translator?

A medical translator, firstly, is a professional translator who does translation to earn a living (or at least to support it). You cannot be an amateur here (even if you do it because you love languages) because you will not have enough time, or enough motivation, to become an expert. And without becoming an expert, you cannot become a professional medical translator.

What you do NOT need:

• You do not need an official medical qualification (or even an official translator qualification) in order to be a medical translator (in most cases, especially if you work with written translations into Russian).
• You do not need a native fluency in a foreign (source) language (but you need to know the language grammar and syntax very well). Your analytical and research skills will balance your weaknesses.

What you need to become a medical translator

• Fluency in at least two languages
• Practice in translation or writing tasks (because your literacy is essential)
• Self-education
• Strong sense of responsibility (because a poor translation may affect someone's health or lives, or it may impact drug registration or clinical trial procedures potentially causing huge financial losses),
• Constant learning,
• Strong analytical and research skills,
• Paying attention to details.
• Perfect knowledge of the native language(s) is a must, with a high proficiency of the foreign language(s).