TRANSLATION PROBLEMS OF THE SPANISH VERSION OF THE READINESS TO CHANGE QUESTIONNAIRE: REPLY

Alicia Rodríguez-Martos

Pla d'Acció sobre Drogues de Barcelona, Institut Municipal de Salut Pública, Ajuntament de Barcelona, Pl. Lesseps 1, 08023-Barcelona, Spain

I really appreciate the comments on the Spanish version of the Readiness to Change Questionnaire made by Fisher et al. (2002), because they pose a challenging question. I understand that the Spanish language is spoken in many different countries with various meanings (taking into account both use and usage) attached to the same words. As a matter of fact, Spanish translations of English questionnaires made in Latin America often need a new validation in Spain, because of the same confounding factors. For example, in Spain we always use the verb ‘beber’ referring to drink alcohol, whereas in many Latin American countries ‘tomar’ is the common verb. The alternative translations suggested by the authors would sound strange in our country. We tried to be loyal to the meaning of the items, more than to the literal wording. Anyway, the back-translation was in agreement with the original English version. In item 1, ‘Yo no bebo demasiado’ was the chosen translation precisely because of the frequency of this statement, spontaneously done with these very words by patients who don't think that they drink too much. Concerning item 7, ‘manifestar su intención’ has exactly the same meaning as ‘decir que quiere’. If there was a misspelling in the article published, it would be an overlooked typing error; however it didn't appear in the test used by the patients. Item 8 was also translated using the wording a Spaniard would use for describing this situation. Our team discussed thoroughly the Spanish version of the test before engaging in its validation. We are aware that this can be a very tricky question and we wouldn't like to have the old Italian adagio applied: Traduttore traditiore. The difficulties in understanding some of the items might rather be attributable to the double negative statements. Anyhow, language is always a fascinating topic for discussion.

REFERENCE

Fisher, D. G., Rainof, A., Rodríguez, J., Archuleta, E. and Muñiz, J. F. (2002) Translation problems of the Spanish version of the Readiness to Change Questionnaire. Alcohol and Alcoholism 37,100.





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