Is Sex Lost in Translation? Linguistic and Conceptual Issues in the Translation of Sexual and Reproductive Health Surveys
Translated questionnaires are increasingly used in population health research. Nevertheless, translation is often not conducted with the same rigour as the process of survey development in the original language. This has serious limitations and may introduce bias in question relevance and meaning. T...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Published: |
2021
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/87046 |
| _version_ | 1848764894169530368 |
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| author | Wong, H. Wang, P. Sun, Y. Newman, C. Vujcich, Daniel Vaughan, C. Cerine, C. O'Connor, C. Jin, D. |
| author_facet | Wong, H. Wang, P. Sun, Y. Newman, C. Vujcich, Daniel Vaughan, C. Cerine, C. O'Connor, C. Jin, D. |
| author_sort | Wong, H. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Translated questionnaires are increasingly used in population health research. Nevertheless, translation is often not conducted with the same rigour as the process of survey development in the original language. This has serious limitations and may introduce bias in question relevance and meaning. This article describes and reflects on the process of translating a large and complex sexual and reproductive health survey from English into Simplified Chinese. We interrogated assumptions embedded in taken-for-granted translation practice to locate the sociocultural origins of these assumptions. We discuss how terminology and expression related to sexual and reproductive health may lose their conceptual or linguistic significance during translation in three different ways. Firstly, meanings can be lost in the negotiation of meanings associated with linguacultural and geographical variations of terminology. Secondly, meanings can be lost in the clash between everyday and professional sexual and reproductive health discourses. Thirdly, meanings can be lost due to the design of the source questionnaire and the intended mode of survey administration. We discuss ways to help overcome the unavoidable translation challenges that arise in the process of translating English sexual and reproductive health surveys for migrants from non-English speaking backgrounds. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:26:36Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-87046 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:26:36Z |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-870462022-01-10T01:21:22Z Is Sex Lost in Translation? Linguistic and Conceptual Issues in the Translation of Sexual and Reproductive Health Surveys Wong, H. Wang, P. Sun, Y. Newman, C. Vujcich, Daniel Vaughan, C. Cerine, C. O'Connor, C. Jin, D. Translated questionnaires are increasingly used in population health research. Nevertheless, translation is often not conducted with the same rigour as the process of survey development in the original language. This has serious limitations and may introduce bias in question relevance and meaning. This article describes and reflects on the process of translating a large and complex sexual and reproductive health survey from English into Simplified Chinese. We interrogated assumptions embedded in taken-for-granted translation practice to locate the sociocultural origins of these assumptions. We discuss how terminology and expression related to sexual and reproductive health may lose their conceptual or linguistic significance during translation in three different ways. Firstly, meanings can be lost in the negotiation of meanings associated with linguacultural and geographical variations of terminology. Secondly, meanings can be lost in the clash between everyday and professional sexual and reproductive health discourses. Thirdly, meanings can be lost due to the design of the source questionnaire and the intended mode of survey administration. We discuss ways to help overcome the unavoidable translation challenges that arise in the process of translating English sexual and reproductive health surveys for migrants from non-English speaking backgrounds. 2021 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/87046 10.1080/13691058.2021.2016975 restricted |
| spellingShingle | Wong, H. Wang, P. Sun, Y. Newman, C. Vujcich, Daniel Vaughan, C. Cerine, C. O'Connor, C. Jin, D. Is Sex Lost in Translation? Linguistic and Conceptual Issues in the Translation of Sexual and Reproductive Health Surveys |
| title | Is Sex Lost in Translation? Linguistic and Conceptual Issues in the Translation of Sexual and Reproductive Health Surveys |
| title_full | Is Sex Lost in Translation? Linguistic and Conceptual Issues in the Translation of Sexual and Reproductive Health Surveys |
| title_fullStr | Is Sex Lost in Translation? Linguistic and Conceptual Issues in the Translation of Sexual and Reproductive Health Surveys |
| title_full_unstemmed | Is Sex Lost in Translation? Linguistic and Conceptual Issues in the Translation of Sexual and Reproductive Health Surveys |
| title_short | Is Sex Lost in Translation? Linguistic and Conceptual Issues in the Translation of Sexual and Reproductive Health Surveys |
| title_sort | is sex lost in translation? linguistic and conceptual issues in the translation of sexual and reproductive health surveys |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/87046 |