Handling women's sexuality tactfully and correctly in 14 languages

RFSU, the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education, is a non-profit membership organisation that works extensively with women with migration experience and newly arrived migrants, among other target groups. On behalf of the government, RFSU translates and simplifies information materials about sexuality and health. This can range from female genital mutilation and sexual violence to abortion and contraception, a task that is far from simple, for several reasons.

“Many of the languages lack certain words because the subject is taboo. Sometimes words associated with the female body are automatically derogatory and offensive,” says Magdalena Abrahamsson, project manager and public health scientist at RFSU.

This became clear when the initial round of translations into 14 languages, including Arabic, Dari, Kurmanji, Sorani, Somali and Tigrinya, came back from the previous translation company and were proofread by RFSU's own reviewers.

Magdalena Abrahamsson, RFSU
Photo: Daniel Ivarsson

“In one translation, 'homosexual' had become 'sodomite', and in another, the translator had independently decided to add a paragraph about abortion stating that women became infertile following an abortion. These were serious transgressions, but thankfully, we stopped them before they were published,” Magdalena says.

Magdalena had learned from other organisations with similar assignments that high-quality translations were difficult to get, so she was prepared for several rounds of reviewing.

“But this took too much time and caused delays in the project. What’s more, we felt we couldn't trust things to be correct. It was a big problem.”

Language solutions

RFSU was recommended to get in touch with Språkbolaget instead, and project manager Linda Haggren travelled from Gothenburg to Stockholm to introduce herself.

“We established great relations right away. They told us they translate directly from Swedish, without stopping off in English. It felt good to remove one whole step from the process,” says Magdalena. Working closely together, RFSU and Språkbolaget developed a clear process which involved engaging translators who were comfortable describing the female body and had knowledge of sexual and reproductive health and rights, were well versed in Swedish conditions and, as far as possible, lived in Sweden. RFSU also wanted two different people to translate and review each language, to get as many fresh pairs of eyes on the texts as possible. A project manager at Språkbolaget managed the entire supplier chain and acted as a single point of contact for RFSU regardless of the language or project.

Magdalena was now receiving more questions from the translators during the process, via Linda, which was a good indicator of quality.

“Well, it might sound odd to be pleased about getting questions, but for me they were a clear sign of quality. We know that this is a sensitive subject with a risk of many misunderstandings, so if no one asks what a hymen is for example, we start getting worried. The translators drew our attention to things that could be misunderstood and came up with detailed suggestions and explanations.”

The outcome

Språkbolaget began with a trial delivery, which put Magdalena entirely at ease.

“We noticed a big difference right away. A very big difference. Our reviewers had far fewer comments and the process worked incredibly well. We operate at such an extremely high pace that we have to have reliable partners, and we can rely on Språkbolaget,” says Magdalena.

The assignment has grown since it began in 2017, and so far Språkbolaget’s responsibilities have included translating Vårdkartan, a glossary for conversational support for staff at youth clinics and healthcare centres, as well as voiceovers for informational films. More languages are on the way. The material can be found all over Sweden, and the films have received a great deal of attention.

“The online youth clinic Umo.se, Vårdguiden 1177 and a number of organisations and universities have asked for permission to publish and distribute our material, which they would never have done had it not been so well translated. We also note that we’re getting hits from abroad, and that’s a good sign,” says Magdalena Abrahamsson.

Sofia Eriksson