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- Title
A Pragmatic Assessment of Google Translate for Emergency Department Instructions.
- Authors
Taira, Breena R.; Kreger, Vanessa; Orue, Aristides; Diamond, Lisa C.
- Abstract
<bold>Background: </bold>Because many hospitals have no mechanism for written translation, ED providers resort to the use of automated translation software, such as Google Translate (GT) for patient instructions. A recent study of discharge instructions in Spanish and Chinese suggested that accuracy rates of Google Translate (GT) were high.<bold>Study Objective: </bold>To perform a pragmatic assessment of GT for the written translation of commonly used ED discharge instructions in seven commonly spoken languages.<bold>Methods: </bold>A prospective assessment of the accuracy of GT for 20 commonly used ED discharge instruction phrases, as evaluated by a convenience sample of native speakers of seven commonly spoken languages (Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Korean, Armenian, and Farsi). Translations were evaluated using a previously validated matrix for scoring machine translation, containing 5-point Likert scales for fluency, adequacy, meaning, and severity, in addition to a dichotomous assessment of retention of the overall meaning.<bold>Results: </bold>Twenty volunteers evaluated 400 google translated discharge statements. Volunteers were 50% female and spoke Spanish (5), Armenian (2), Chinese (3), Tagalog (4), Korean (2), and Farsi (2). The overall meaning was retained for 82.5% (330/400) of the translations. Spanish had the highest accuracy rate (94%), followed by Tagalog (90%), Korean (82.5%), Chinese (81.7%), Farsi (67.5%), and Armenian (55%). Mean Likert scores (on a 5-point scale) were high for fluency (4.2), adequacy (4.4), meaning (4.3), and severity (4.3) but also varied.<bold>Conclusion: </bold>GT for discharge instructions in the ED is inconsistent between languages and should not be relied on for patient instructions.
- Subjects
MACHINE translating; HOSPITAL emergency services; NATIVE language; TRANSLATING &; interpreting; LIKERT scale; LANGUAGE &; languages; TRANSLATIONS; LONGITUDINAL method; DISCHARGE planning
- Publication
JGIM: Journal of General Internal Medicine, 2021, Vol 36, Issue 11, p3361
- ISSN
0884-8734
- Publication type
journal article
- DOI
10.1007/s11606-021-06666-z