Use Dictionaries and terminology tools - French resources in Health Sciences - Guides de recherche

HeTOP

You need some help to identify and translate a MeSH ??

HeTOP (Health Terminology/Ontology Portal) contains the main terminologies or ontologies of the Health domain. It hosts more than 3 million concepts that are available in several languages (among 55 languages) among 100 terminologies or ontologies.

French site allowing French-speaking Medline users to find MeSH descriptors based on French terms. Link to Doc'CISMeF, the database of French-language articles.

Dictionaries, glossaries and specialized thesaurus

Thesauri are dictionaries of terms specific to a given domain. They are used for research in bibliographic databases called "controlled vocabulary ". The terms of the thesaurus, or descriptors (subject headings) are used to express the various synonyms for a concept consistently.

Dictionnaire critique des termes de psychiatrie et de santé mentale
Le MeSH bilingue
MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) , biomedical thesaurus reference, is a tool for indexing, cataloging and querying NLM (National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, USA) databases, including MEDLINE / PubMed. Inserm, the French partner of the NLM since 1969, translated the MeSH for Francophone users in 1986, and updates it every year and presents the bilingual version on this website.
Fiches linguistiques en lien avec la COVID-19
L’Office québécois de la langue française diffuse, dans ses outils de référence, diverses informations linguistiques portant sur des questions liées à la COVID-19. Consultez-en la liste, qui est mise à jour régulièrement.
Lexique de la recherche clinique et de la médecine factuelle (Evidence-based medicine)

Building a Medical Terminology Foundation by Kimberlee Carter and Marie Rutherford

Medical terminology is a language that is used in health care settings. Medical terms are built from Greek and Latin word parts and in addition include acronymns, eponyms, and modern-day language terms. Learning a new language can be a daunting task. In this resource, we offer a method for breaking down medical words that takes that daunting task and makes it manageable.

Medical resources available in French and in English

In Canada, some of our institution produce and translate their documentation in French, English or even in other languages when the population needs it. Don't forget to explore these collections to discover the right terms or just to read a document in our favourite language. Here some example of website offering resources in Health.

Gouvernment of Canada: Health Portfolio
Health Portfolio = Health Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
Infobanque des GPC : Guides de pratique clinique
CPG Infobase is maintained by CMA Joule, a subsidiary of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA). This database contains approximately 1,200 evidence-based Canadian clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) developed or endorsed by authoritative medical or health organizations in Canada.
Nursing Best Practice Guidelines (RNAO)
The purpose of this program is to support Ontario nurses by providing them with best practice guidelines for client care, as well as a toolkit and educator's resource to support implementation. Many of these publications are available in French, among other languages and we continue to translate materials on an ongoing basis

CPS » Ce lien s'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre / This link opens in a new window
CPS (formerly RxTx) is Canada's authoritative source for prescribing and managing drug therapy at the point of care. It provides online access to evidence-based drug and therapeutic information. Available in French and in English. One tool for two well known Canadian resources.
Rx = The Compendium of Pharmaceuticals and Specialties (CPS), formerly known as e-CPS, contains more than 2000 product monographs for drugs, vaccines and natural health products, including monographs, including CPhA monographs written by the Canadian Pharmacists Association's editorial staff, based on the best available evidence and reviewed by expert physicians and pharmacists. Include also a module of drug interactions.
Tx = The Compendium of Therapeutic Choices (CTC), formerly e-Therapeutics, is a Canadian source for evidence-based treatment information for all health care practitioners involved in therapeutic decision-making.

And here are some medical resources produced by Health organizations around the world that create quality and reliable information in many languages:

MSD Manual Professional Version
First published in 1899 as a small reference book for physicians and pharmacists, the Manual grew in size and scope to become one of the most widely used comprehensive medical resources for professionals and consumers.

French version: https://www.msdmanuals.com/fr/professional
MSF medical guidelines (Doctors without borders)
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) produces medical guides to help practitioners in the field. The contents of these guides are based on scientific data and MSF’s field experience. The scientific data used are that of the World Health Organization (WHO) or renowned international medical institutions as well as medical and scientific journals.

French version: https://medicalguidelines.msf.org/viewport/MG/fr/guidelines-16681097.html

Dictionaries and translation tools

TERMIUM Plus
TERMIUM Plus®, one of the largest terminology and linguistic data banks in the world, gives you access to millions of terms in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese.
Linguee
Linguee is a unique translation tool combining an editorial dictionary and a search engine with which you can search billions of bilingual texts for words and expressions.
Le grand dictionnaire terminologique (GDT)
Le grand dictionnaire terminologique (GDT) est une banque de fiches terminologiques rédigées par l’Office québécois de la langue française ou des partenaires de l’Office. Chaque fiche renseigne sur un concept lié à un domaine d’emploi spécialisé et présente les termes qui le désignent en français, en anglais et, parfois, dans d’autres langues.
ReversoDictionary : English » French Medical dictionary
Medical En-Fr translation of words and expressions, definition, synonyms.

Translation and localizations or cultural identities

There is no one French but a variety of French. And translating can be a complicated exercise. Here are some resources that take into consideration regional nuances and represent “les francophonies”.

Dictionnaire des francophones
Comprendre et partager les mots avec plusieurs dictionnaires du français parlé partout dans le monde. Participer à l'enrichissement collectif.
Translating for Canada, eh ?
OER. This ebook briefly introduces the concepts of translation and localization and then presents a range of free online tools and resources, including term banks, bilingual concordancers, tools for comparing language varieties, machine translation tools, and language portals. In each case, the tools and resources that are presented have a distinctly Canadian flavour to help translators to localize texts into Canadian English and Canadian French. For each tool or resource, there is a short practical exercise to get you started. What are you waiting for, eh?

For additional resources on dictionaries and theories for translating, please see the excellent guides "Translation and Interpretation" or "Bilingualism Studies (OLBI) and Second Language Teaching".

French Dictionaries

Multidictionnaire de la langue française
A complete, unique and reliable reference, the Multi is the best friend for French writers: includes neologisms, locutions, quotations, grammatical, syntactical, typographical, encyclopaedic as well as semantic notes; synonyms and antonyms; incorrect forms as well as cross-references to the corresponding correct forms; and make this reference work an indispensable tool.
Le Nouveau Petit Robert
Le Nouveau Petit Robert is the indispensable reference for writing and expressing oneself better in French. The online edition includes the entire content of the print version, along with regular editorial reviews, and additional benefits
USITO
Containing about 60,000 words, Usito is an online dictionary that provides an open description of the French language that reflects the reality of Quebec, Canada and North America while building bridges with the rest of the Francophone Community.
Banque de dépannage linguistique
La BDL est un répertoire d’articles répondant à des questions d’ordre linguistique, rédactionnel et communicationnel (grammaire, orthographe, syntaxe, vocabulaire, emprunts à l'anglais, féminisation, correspondance, etc.) produite par l'Office québécois de la langue française.
** Voir la section COVID-19
Grammaire Office québécois de la langue française
La BDL est un répertoire d’articles répondant à des questions d’ordre linguistique, rédactionnel et communicationnel (grammaire, orthographe, syntaxe, vocabulaire, emprunts à l'anglais, féminisation, correspondance, etc.)... Les articles de la BDL sont rédigés de manière à promouvoir la langue française dans sa globalité, en tenant compte de la variété des situations de communication et des aires géographiques dans lesquelles elle est employée. En traitant de l’acceptabilité des mots et des expressions en fonction d’un contexte, la BDL contribue à l’élaboration d’une norme qui prend en considération la réalité sociolinguistique du français au Québec.

How to find dictionaries

To find dictionaries in the field you want to use the catalogue and search by topic by entering the following terms, for example:

médecine -- dictionnaires français

You wil get the following results: results