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"Follow the path of the unsafe, independent thinker. Expose your ideas to the danger of controversy. Speak your mind and fear less the label of “crackpot” than the stigma of conformity.”

~ Thomas Watson (1874-1956)
American businessman, founder of IBM

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Vlada Kuznetsova - Receptionist

When asked to provide a biography feature for E-Buzz I at once wondered how I was going to fit everything I wanted to share in one small article? So let’s try to do that!

When I was eleven the part of Russia where I lived became Estonia. Some of you may benefit from a little history and current events review. Estonia existed before and was taken over by Russians to become part of the USSR. That is why some “old” Estonians are very opposed to Russian culture and people. Elderly people would even make pointed remarks about us speaking Russian if I did so out in public with my friends. Needless to say, Estonia was very happy to get its independence back.

People often ask about the difference before and after Estonia regained its independence. I recall that when we were a part of Russia, we used to have an “artificial” product deficit. I remember my mom standing in line for groceries. My mom used to buy green bananas and put them in a suitcase under the bed, so they could ripen there. If, for example, you wanted to buy a washing machine, you had to know the right people so they could get you on a list. But that was just the beginning of the journey. Then you had to go and check on the supply every day. If you did not come in time, you missed your chance. I remember my mom leaving at night hopefully to check on the listing. If the product was coming in the morning, then people would stand in line all night until the store opened in the morning. Well, my mom met a lot of friends while standing in line.

When I turned 18 years old my mom married and moved to Austin, TX. According to the law, when a person turns 18 years old, he or she is considered to be an adult, so my mom could not take me with her to America. I had to stay in Estonia.

I wanted to be an English interpreter, so after high school, I entered college to study English. After graduating I was offered a teaching position. After a year and a half I understood that this career was not for me, so I got a job as an Administrative Assistant/Interpreter. Soon after that I got my United States visa, and here I am. I have been in Austin for three years. I cannot believe how time flies. It seems to me I just came here. I got my associate’s degree from Austin Community College in Office Administration, but I would like to go back to school and to get a bachelor's degree in Management. When I came to Austin, I was worried that I would not be able to pursue college courses in a foreign language. And I think I could get my bachelor’s degree, too; at least I should try.

I like challenges and setting goals. I think that having goals makes life interesting. One of my goals was to find a job after graduating from ACC and that is what I did. Here I am at McElroy Translation Company! The interesting fact is that I got acquainted with McElroy Company before I started working there. I used to take classes at the ACC Rio Grande campus that is one block from McElroy; I used to park my car across the street from McElroy. I remember noticing the company and wondering about what they did because I saw the word translation. When I applied for the position, I did not realize at first that my application was going to the place I had so often wondered about. What fortunate coincidence!

That is short version of me. I answer the phones from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. each day, so if you call our office perhaps we’ll get better acquainted.

Estonia

Tallinn
Tallinn (recent historical name: Reval) is the capital city and main seaport of Estonia. It is located on Estonia’s north coast to the Baltic Sea, 80 kilometres south of Helsinki.

The origin of the name “Tallinn(a)” is certain to be Estonian, although the original meaning of the name is debated. It is usually thought to be derived from “Taani-linn(a)” (meaning "Danish-castle/town"; Latin: Castrum Danorum). However, it could also have come from “tali-linna” (“winter-castle/town”) or “talu-linna” (“house/farmstead-castle/town”). The element -linna, like German -burg and Slavic -grad originally meant “castle” but is used as a suffix in the formation of town names.

Economy
In addition to longtime functions as seaport and capital city, Tallinn has seen development of an information technology sector in recent years; in its 13 December 2005 edition, The New York Times characterized Estonia as "a sort of Silicon Valley on the Baltic Sea." Skype is the best-known of several Tallinn IT start-ups, and a first venture capital firm was founded in 2005. Many are housed in the Soviet-era Institute of Cybernetics, which is said to been one of the seeds for Estonian adoption of computing technology. Despite this, the most important economic sectors of Tallinn are the light, textile, and food industry, as well as the service and government sector.

Economic autonomy was a key demand from Estonia during the negotiations that led to its independence. The Baltic states were the most prosperous areas of the former Soviet Union and they were keen to develop economic links with their Western neighbors outside the straitjacket of central planning. Other than oil-shale, which is present in significant quantities and provides the basis of the country’s power generation, Estonia has few raw materials of its own and relies mostly on imported commodities to produce finished goods. Light machinery, electrical and electronic equipment and consumer goods are the main products. Fishing, forestry and dairy farming dominate the agricultural sector.

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Medical Translation Quality

It IS a Horse of a Different Color

Serving the medical industry introduces unique considerations to the translation and localization process. One notable difference is the way the quality assurance process is designed for medical industry clients. This article discusses quality considerations of the medical translation market and offers quality assurance process information tailored to the specialized needs of pharmaceutical and medical device clients.

The Basics of Quality Translation

Getting Into the Starting Gate

McElroy’s basic quality standard has always entailed a minimum of two verifications steps post translation. Each project is reviewed by a target-language native in that technical field. We maintain an editing department of subject matter specialists for translations to English and assign technical editing to a qualified second translator for translations from English.

In each case a staff proofreader conducts another project review post formatting to confirm that editorial comments were implemented, that formatting did not introduce irregularities, and that “numbers and paragraphs” match the source document. Today, this level of quality assurance is a baseline industry standard expected by clients who require custom technical translation and localization.

There is a wide range of documents for which medical clients may require translation, including research protocols, informed consent documents to be signed by patient subjects, advertisements to be used in recruiting subjects, patient questionnaires, reports of adverse events, regulatory submissions, instructions for use or package inserts, and labeling. For many materials, an additional layer of quality assurance is required by medical industry clients. Examples:

• The informed consent communicates study risk to participants and is scrutinized with heightened vigilance. This impacts not only global clinical trials, but also many trials conducted solely within the United States.
• Companies must localize consumer education, marketing and promotional materials to effectively promote their products in the U.S. and internationally.
• For medical companies, translation to support non-English speaking populations in clinical trials abroad and in the U.S. is not a marketing choice – it is a requirement!

The Role of Institutional Review Boards

You Better Put Your Best Horses in the Race

Over the past 25 years, thousands of Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) have formed to help ensure human subject protections. At first, most were in large academic centers where most federally funded research occurs. As commercially sponsored research increased, IRBs emerged in the 1980s and 1990s as independent entities working outside the institutions where research is performed. Both the public and private IRB models play a vital role in protecting human research subjects.

IRBs carry out initial and continuing review functions in accordance with Federal regulations first established in the 1970s that apply to all research funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services or carried out on products regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. All subjects must understand enough about the study to make an informed decision about being a research participant. This is mandated by the Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) in the Code of Federal Regulations 45CFR46.116. An IRB’s initial review of a research plan encompasses the research protocol, the informed consent document to be signed by subjects, and any advertisements used to recruit subjects.

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