Comparing Large Language Models and Traditional Machine Translation Tools for Translating Medical Consultation Summaries: A Pilot Study

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2504.16601v1
• Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2025 10:31:33 GMT
• Title: Comparing Large Language Models and Traditional Machine Translation Tools for Translating Medical Consultation Summaries: A Pilot Study
• Authors: Andy Li, Wei Zhou, Rashina Hoda, Chris Bain, Peter Poon,
• Abstract summary: This study evaluates how well large language models (LLMs) and traditional machine translation (MT) tools translate medical consultation summaries from English into Arabic, Chinese, and Vietnamese.<n>Results showed that traditional MT tools generally performed better, especially for complex texts.<n>Arabic translations improved with complexity due to the language's morphology.
• Score: 9.136745540182423
• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
• Abstract: This study evaluates how well large language models (LLMs) and traditional machine translation (MT) tools translate medical consultation summaries from English into Arabic, Chinese, and Vietnamese. It assesses both patient, friendly and clinician, focused texts using standard automated metrics. Results showed that traditional MT tools generally performed better, especially for complex texts, while LLMs showed promise, particularly in Vietnamese and Chinese, when translating simpler summaries. Arabic translations improved with complexity due to the language's morphology. Overall, while LLMs offer contextual flexibility, they remain inconsistent, and current evaluation metrics fail to capture clinical relevance. The study highlights the need for domain-specific training, improved evaluation methods, and human oversight in medical translation.

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