Multiculturalism inhabits the heart of the city

“The Almirante Family Health Centre is in the most multicultural district of Lisbon, treating patients from more than 70 nations. During appointments, so that nothing is lost in translation, they have often resorted to an improvised translator, who could be either a child  or a stranger. Doctors discover problems and solutions” reads the introduction to a news report by Andreia Friaças, which was published in Público on 28 March this year.

At this health centre, which opened in November 2018 and is on a street perpendicular to Avenida Almirante Reis, you will hear many languages besides Portuguese, including Nepalese, Romanian, Mandarin and Bengali. In fact, the 12,583 registered patients are spread across 73 nationalities.

In its corridors you will find leaflets explaining how the national health service works in English, Nepalese, Bengali, Mandarin and Urdu. There are also leaflets about maternal and child health, sexual health and contraception, all of which are translated into these languages.

Since 1989, Traductanet, an agency offering translation and interpretation, software and website localisation, transcreation and multilanguage SEO services, has won several European Union contracts to translate medical terminology and documents in the medical and pharmaceutical fields. Between 2009 and 2011, Traductanet was responsible for the translation from English to Portuguese of the European Commission’s major project: GMDN (Global Medical Device Nomenclature).

Traductanet was judged the best performing European translation agency in this contract.

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