Translating patient materials into plain Russian
Plain Russian patient materials use familiar expressions, manageable sentences and clear instructions while retaining medical meaning. Translation from English needs particular attention to forms of address, passive and impersonal constructions, acronyms, redundant pronouns and terminology, with readability tools supporting editorial judgement.
Russian plain-language requirements
A 2007 Russian guideline for patient-oriented medical educational materials recommended:
- Clear, concise writing.
- Freedom from specialised medical terminology.
- Adaptation to patients' general educational level.
Five plain-language principles are especially relevant to English-to-Russian patient translation:
- Address the reader directly. Russian can become overly formal, bureaucratic and impersonal; translators accustomed to specialist documents may avoid even formal “you”.
- Use active voice. Passive constructions complicate comprehension, but translators with scientific and technical experience may favour them.
- Avoid abbreviations and acronyms. Russian introduces them less often than English, and translation can inadvertently carry them over.
- Avoid complex sentences. Russian stylistic habits may lead translators to merge short, plain English sentences into longer, more complicated ones.
- Give clear instructions. Use “do this” rather than “one should do this”, resisting impersonal formulations.
Translation should follow plain-language guidance and avoid legal-style formulations, using simplified terms and everyday expressions instead of specialised terminology wherever possible. Accessible wording frees patients' cognitive resources to learn and make health decisions rather than struggle with long sentences and complex terms.
Readability assessment
Standardised readability criteria help counter long words, passive voice and complex sentences in Russian translation. Tools described in 2025 included Microsoft Word's Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch–Kincaid statistics, the free plain-language tool ru.readability.io, and plainrussian.ru. The latter provided Flesch–Kincaid, Coleman–Liau, Automated Readability Index, SMOG (Simple Measure of Gobbledygook) and Dale–Chall assessments adapted for Russian, with explanations of the measures. Necessary medical terms and expressions may produce false alerts, so automated results need interpretation.
Ten editing examples
The following English-to-Russian editing examples illustrate changes for patient comprehension:
| Example | Problem and edit |
|---|---|
| 1. Age-appropriate language | A brochure for teenagers with cystic fibrosis (CF) uses formal vy in its original translation; informal ty helps create a relaxed tone for sensitive subjects such as puberty and growing up with CF. This approach also appears in Association of Clinical Trials Organisations paediatric-consent templates and Russian medical books for children. |
| 2. Sentence length | Four short source sentences about delayed growth or puberty become two long Russian sentences, including conjunctions and a colon. The edit restores four sentences for easier comprehension. |
| 3. Common expressions | For “your CF doctor”, lechashhij vrach is the familiar expression for the attending doctor; lechashhij doktor is not. Familiar wording leaves attention available for disease processes and how medicines work. |
| 4. Redundant pronouns | Possessive pronouns often sound unnecessary and unnatural in Russian. In “clear your lungs”, the edit removes svoi (“your”) before legkie (“lungs”). |
| 5. Complex sentences | An antibiotic-and-pill passage becomes easier to follow when the edit reduces conjunctions and repetitive wording. |
| 6. Reflexive verbs | The reflexive construction for “It's often shortened to ‘chemo’” is replaced by an active construction. Reflexive verbs reduce Russian readability and should often give way to an active verb with a subject or an impersonal construction. |
| 7. Punctuation | For “your cancer doctor, called an oncologist”, dashes around onkolog replace a subordinate clause: tvoj lechashhij vrach – onkolog –. |
| 8. Nonessential direct address | In “Sometimes chemo is the only treatment you need”, direct address is merely a figure of speech. Omitting it makes the Russian shorter and clearer. |
| 9. Simplified terms | The source introduces and consistently uses “chemo”, but the original translation retains “chemotherapy”. The edit uses the shortened Russian ximiya, appearing as ximii in the sentence. |
| 10. Overly formal language | Heavy e’to oznachaet, chto (“this means”) becomes simpler poe’tomu, removing two conjunctions; a verbal noun is also replaced by a strong, active verb. |
Further simplified Russian terminology includes:
| Technical expression | Simpler alternative | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Arterial’noe davlenie | davlenie | Arterial pressure → pressure |
| Vakcinaciya | privivka | Vaccination |
| Vakcinirovat’ | sdelat’ privivku | To vaccinate |
| Intraabdominal’no | v bryushnuyu polost’ | Intra-abdominal → into the abdominal cavity |
| Peroral’no | vnutr’ | Per oral, using a simpler non-Latin-derived equivalent |
| Oftal’mologicheskij | glaznoj | Ophthalmological → eye |
| ChSS | pul’s | Heart-rate-frequency abbreviation → pulse |
| Uroven’ glyukozy v krovi | saxar / uroven’ saxara | Blood glucose level → sugar / sugar level |
Some simplifications depend on context: “heart rate” cannot automatically become “pulse”, although that substitution is appropriate in many situations.