Useful links
I have brought together here particularly useful biomedical websites. Some of these resources are hosted by businesses. Unless otherwise indicated, I do not have any professional relationships with these companies and they are uniquely responsible for their website content (by clicking on the following links you will be leaving my website). However I would like to thank these companies for graciously providing these information resources.
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Find a translator
My translation services are specialized in biomedical sciences and I translate only from French and into English.
If you need a translation into French, in a field other than the biomedical sciences or in a language combination other than French-English, I suggest consulting the following websites. They all have directories of freelance translators.
How should a translator be chosen? See "Choose your translator carefully" under "Five suggestions for successfully managing your translations".
- Société Française des Traducteurs (SFT) Website in French.
- American Translators Association (ATA)
- Proz.com
Monolingual biomedical and medical dictionaries
In English
- Dorland's Medical Dictionary The English medical dictionary par excellence.
- Stedman's Electronic Medical Dictionary
- Merriam-Webster Medical Dictionary At Medline Plus.
- MedicineNet.com Easy to understand definitions.
- On-line Medical Dictionary Published be the Department of Medical Oncology, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, The CancerWEB Project. Very complete with a useful inter-definition link-based navigation.
- Medical abbreviations dictionary At mediLexicon. Very useful. Non-English abbreviations are also compiled. Use with caution however: Non-standard abbreviation use is frequent and you can quickly find yourself on the wrong track.
In French
Unfortunately the true French medical dictionaries are not currently available online.
In the meantime, le Grand dictionnaire terminologique and TermSciences can be quite useful for finding French definitions. They are listed here under the heading French-English bilingual dictionaries.
Monolingual non-specialized dictionaries
Yes, they can be quite helpful as well...
In English
- Wordnet By the Princeton University Cognitive Science Laboratory. Although non-specialized, the vastness of this project makes it a useful tool for biomedical terminology.
- Merriam-Webster Online
- Cambridge Dictionary online
- American Heritage Dictionary At Bartleby.com.
- The Free Dictionary
In French
When shall we be seeing Le Petit Robert or Le Larousse online? In the meantime...
- Alexandria This is a multi-language project but its French component is reasonably complete.
- Lexilogos This website compiles other French dictionaries.
French-English bilingual dictionaries
Keep in mind that any dictionary is only a starting point in the search for terminological equivalence; in-context equivalence and the ubiquity of the term must also be established.
- Le Grand dictionnaire terminologique From the Office québécois de la langue française. This is the almost universal starting point for technical translators working in the French-English language combination. Be attentive to possible Canadianisms.
- TermSciences This tool brings together the terminological ressources of diverse French research organizations and university programs. Terminological research can be limited to just one of the constituent bodies, for example INSERM or the Banque de Données Santé Publique (BDSP).
General medical information websites
In English
- Health on the Net (HON) Foundation Portal site for medical information. They are known particularly for the HON code accreditation. (Also available in French)
- National Library of Medicine (NLM) The world's largest medical library, known online especially for:
- PubMed Bibliographic database compiling more than 5000 medical and scientific journals.
- Medlineplus Also part of the NLM, offers medical information intended mainly for patients.
- Emedicine Learned level overall, but patient-level information can be found as well.
- The Merck Manuals Including the Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy.
- GPnotebook Information intended for general practitioners.
- Familydoctor.org A service of the American Academy of Family Physicians, patient level.
- Medscape Learned level, organized by specialty; news, articles, CMEs and much more.
In French
Truly authoritative physician-level medical websites in French are few, but I hope to see an evolution in the years to come.
- Caducee.net Information for health professionals; news, health-subject portfolios, website directories, press reviews, forums and more.
- MEDinfos Compact but complete information on the most frequent illnesses in several fields. Learned level.
- Catalogue et Index des Sites Médicaux Francophones (CISMeF) This is a web-based catalog of French-language websites and documents published by the CHU of Rouen. Serious, complete and very useful.
- Vulgaris-medical.com Although meant for the general population this website is sufficiently rich in information as to be interesting for health professionals.
- Doctissimo Simplified information, but this website has gotten me out of a bind more than once.
Major medical institutions
International
- World Health Organization (WHO) In French: L'Organisation Mondiale de la Santé (OMS).
- United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) In French: L'Organisation des Nations Unies pour l'éducation, la science et la culture.
- Health and Consumer Protection Directorate General of the European Union In French: Direction Générale Santé et Protection des Consommateurs De l'Union Européenne.
French
- Ministère de la santé et des solidarités Main governing body for health matters in France.
- Agence française de sécurité sanitaire des produits de santé (afssaps) Assures and coordinates health-related product/service testing and safety.
- Haute autorité de santé (HAS) Evaluates medical act and drug efficacy, establishes good use guidelines. (Partially available in English)
- Agence de la biomédecine Provides expertise, propositions and decisions for living tissue medical applications and sciences (transplants, embryonic research, etc).
- Institut de veille sanitaire (InVS) Main French organism for health surveillance. (Available in English)
- French sanitary agency portal
- Ordre National des Médecins Principal organization for physicians; deontology, administration, legal affaires, etc.
- Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) National-level scientific research organization. (Available in English)
- Centre national de la recherche scientifique, département des sciences du vivant (CNRS-SDV) Life sciences division of the CNRS.
- Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (Inserm) Public institute dedicated to medical research. (Available in English)
- Institut Pasteur There is no real need to present this world-renowned institute engaged in the prevention and treatment of disease. (Available in English)
American
- Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Principal governmental body for health matters in the United States. Oversees a number of agencies.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Agency of the HHS which in turn comprises around 15 sub-agencies. Including:
- Food and Drug Administration Agency of the HHS.
- National Institutes of Health (NIH) Agency of the HHS which in turn comprises about twenty sub-agencies and centers. Including:
- American Medical Association Principal association for American physicians and the promotion of medicine.
