Say you build equipment that clinics use every day. A nurse in another country opens your manual, hits a step that reads strangely, and guesses. Nobody means harm. But a guess in a clinic isn’t the same as a guess in a spreadsheet, and that’s the whole problem.
Good manuals in other languages come from people who understand the equipment, which is why many teams turn to professional translation services with real medical depth. Ulatus has been delivering ISO certified translation since 2005, and its medical work leans on translators who know the field, not just the grammar.
The Limbus Manual Project
Ulatus translated an equipment manual for Limbus, a client whose content dealt with contouring in RT Structure Sets and renaming partial structures according to the TG263 standard. That’s the kind of text where one wrong term sends a reader down the wrong path.
Compare that with a skin care catalog, which Ulatus translated for Koru. Different tone, different reader, same need for accuracy. A catalog still describes medical solutions that help treat and maintain the skin, so a loose translation can promise too much.
Why Devices Are a Special Case
Ulatus describes its medical and in vitro device translation as bridging the gap between bench science and patient care. The work is done by industry experts who understand medical innovation and improving outcomes. Honestly, that’s a better fit than handing a manual to someone who has never seen a device like yours.
Ulatus also lists medical device translation under its life science solutions, next to clinical trial translation, regulatory work and linguistic validation. So a single provider can follow a product from the lab bench through approvals and into patient hands, which could spare you some vendor juggling.
Reports, Papers and Everything in Between
Siemens Healthineers had Ulatus translate medical reports on peripheral vascular disease and hypertension. Path needed a production report for Upacicalcet sodium hydrate, an active pharmaceutical ingredient. Two very different documents, two separate audiences, and zero room for a creative guess.
Then there was a project with 3H Medi Solution, where Ulatus translated and transcribed patient interviews about a health issue and its symptoms. That’s spoken language, messy and personal, which asks for a different skill than a polished journal article does.
Don’t Forget Regulation
A blog on the Ulatus site covers how localization matters for EU MDR, which tells you regulators pay attention to language too. Regulatory translations from Ulatus focus on accuracy and consistency so documents hold up across foreign jurisdictions. Small things, big consequences.
What to Ask Before You Sign Anything
Ask who will translate your files and what they know about your field. Ulatus works with 250+ life science linguists across 40+ therapeutic areas, and you can request translator profiles before starting if your word count is higher. Ask about security too.
Any provider of medical translation services should be able to explain how it protects your files. Ulatus relies on nondisclosure agreements and secure file transfer, with data encryption on top. It also holds ISO 13485:2016 for medical devices, which is worth checking against your own quality system.
The Short Version
Device makers don’t get second chances with a confusing manual. Choose translators who’ve seen similar documents, ask hard questions about security and certification, and share your real deadlines early. Start with the one document that worries you most, then build from there, one project at a time. Ulatus offers free quotes, so there’s little reason not to start the conversation.
