I’ve enjoyed using the new online version of Fernando Navarro’s Libro Rojo since it came out a few months ago and so I was pleased to be asked if I would like to write a guest post on the Cosnautas’ blog. A mini-series called Cinco Términos offers medical translators’ insights into five domain-specific terms in English and Spanish that are defined and analysed in the Libro Rojo.
Click on this link to see which terms I chose.
Enjoy!
Signs & Symptoms of Translation 
That sentence “you will be randomised to receive the active treatment or placebo” really caught my eye. I know that it’s correct and all, but some words have always struck me as peculiar sounding and randomised is definitely one of them. “You will be randomised” sounds pretty threatening, when you get right down to it!
Yes, getting randomised has a bit of a Big Brother ring to it. The Spanish workaround “asignar al azar” is more human altogether.