Training material for translators

Given that translation projects might have different workflows, I would consider very high-level roles that might have different competency requirements:

1. propose translations of SNOMED CT concepts (external translators, occasional contributors, draft translations)
2. to approve translations for publication (experienced SNOMED CT translators, NRC staff, or Translation Product Owner roles accepting proposed translations)
3. validate that translations (proposed or approved) are relevant for users (clinical contributors and/or subject matter experts)
4. to resolve escalated translation challenges, maintain translation editorial guidelines and naming conventions aligned with IE, and interact with the rest of the SNOMED ecosystem (SI CRS, other NRCs, Advisory or project groups, etc.)

During the April 2022 eLearning Advisory Group business meeting we learned that a new version of the Foundation course will be beta tested soon, so it would be nice if members of the Translation Group provide feedback after evaluating it to introduce and onboard new translators and collaborators. 

In the eLearning platform, the Authoring Level 1 course includes detailed competencies for that course. We anticipate translators might benefit from a subset of that content (if they are not also content authoring/creators). Please review the competencies here:

https://elearning.ihtsdotools.org/mod/book/view.php?id=4342&chapterid=880

Authoring Level 1 includes many instructional materials that could serve as introductions to SNOMED CT design, concept model and editorial guidance, but only a subset of them might be relevant depending on the translator role. One key aspect is how much time we have to train a translator before "starting" on a given role.

While translation roles approving or resolving escalated translation challenges would likely need a significant understanding of the SNOMED CT design and concept model, the SNOMED CT Editorial Guide is rapidly evolving the formalization of naming conventions and "refactoring" the source English FSNs and synonyms, so probably this area (naming conventions) would require space in each translation project style guide (for example, the distinction of "due to" vs "caused by", FSN construction patterns for certain semantic areas (e.g. for findings, having the "morphology" followed by the "site" like "Inflamation of X" over "Xitis" for the FSN, and "Xitis" for preferred terms). While many translation projects do not translate FSNs, from the translation perspective they are supposed to provide the highest level of context. Translating only the PT doesn't mean using the English PT as the source reference, but identifying the target language PT that would express the meaning represented by the corresponding source FSN in the target language.

For Senior Translators, a good understanding of the SNOMED CT Editorial Guide seems relevant. However, with about 500 pages packed with dense information, it is difficult to use it directly for the initial stages of training. This could perhaps be replaced with a summary of the relevant aspects for each translation project, as early stages focus on higher priority subsets of the content.

There are also valuable resources for more complex (or composite) concepts in Authoring Level 2 course. For example, evaluating sources of information, naming conventions for combined disorders and temporal considerations, etc.)

Topics from Authoring Level 1 elearning course: