Translation of Patient Information Leaflet: Functionality plus Loyalty

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to examine the relationship between functionalism, loyalty and fidelity in ‎translation of patient information leaflets. To make the functionality concept applicable to the ‎translation of this particular genre, the principle of loyalty is discussed, which, unlike faithfulness or ‎fidelity, refers to a trustful and fair relationship between the persons interacting in a translation ‎process. This study uses a small comparable corpus including 100 English patient leaflets and their ‎corresponding Persian translations. First, a brief overview of generic features of this text type is ‎offered. Then the corpus is analysed according to certain extra-textual and intra-textual factors, ‎relying mainly on Nord’s functionality plus loyalty concept to determine whether the translation of ‎patient information leaflets has the same function as their source texts and how much they are ‎faithful and loyal. Analysis of the corpus reveals that concerning extra-textual features, there are ‎hardly any differences in functionality between English and Persian translations of patient information ‎leaflets and as regards intra-textual features, they are highly faithful.‎