Translation, Virtual Environments and ICT Tools for Achieving Competence in Language for Specific Purposes

Abstract

The boom in medical tourism over the last few years, even in times of economic recession, is creating a new and productive labour market for both translators and interpreters. In the south of Spain, the Costa del Sol, located in Andalusia, is one of the main medical tourism spots due to its mild temperatures throughout the year, the quality of its health system and its value for money compared to health systems in other countries of the European Union. In the particular case of Málaga, the province has been considered a holiday health destination since the nineteenth century (García Verdugo Pinceladas históricas del turismo de salud en Andalucía. In: A. Güeto, P. Pinazo (eds) Turismo y salud: traducción, interpretación y comunicación intercultural en el sector turístico europeo, pp 81–94, 2013) to the present day. In view of this situation, our main aim is to analyse the usefulness of the translation processes for achieving the full competence of languages for specific purposes. We focus our research in the specific field of medicine and the competences of scientific writers, medical translators and interpreters.