Life-science translation · New York, NY es / pt / fr

in san juan, she reads your consent form twice.

Slowly. At the kitchen table.Every clause has to hold its shapewhen it crosses the water.We make sure it does.

Gentian Lane translates and localizes trial documents, consent forms and regulatory submissions into Spanish, Portuguese and French — validated, certified, invoiced per project.

Or call the desk: (650) 847-8235 · Mon–Fri 11am–4pm

  • We write for
  • sponsors
  • CROs
  • biotech regulatory teams
  • IRB & ethics filings
SRC · en-US TGT · es / pt / fr
01 — The desk

a small desk with a long memory

“A consent form is a quiet promise. We make sure it is kept in every language.”
— the Gentian Lane desk, New York

The gentian is the blue flower that opens only in full light. That is the standard. Nothing in your document should need shade.

Gentian Lane is a translation and localization desk in New York, NY for the people who run trials and file dossiers. Spanish, Portuguese, French. Clinical, patient-facing, regulatory. Nothing else.

Sunlight from an arched window falling across a bare desk with a single blue flower in a glass
Languages
Spanish (US, Latin America, Spain) · Portuguese (Brazil, Portugal) · French (France, Canada)
Documents
Protocols, investigator brochures, informed consent forms, PROs & diaries, labels, submission modules
Method
Forward translation, reconciliation, back-translation, cognitive debriefing, certificate
Linguists
Native speakers of the target language, trained in life-science terminology
Billing
Per project, by invoice
Desk
512 W 136Th St Apt 5A, New York, NY 10031
Hours
Mon–Fri 11am–4pm
02 — The quote

two ways to carry a page across

Priced per word of source text. Invoiced once per project. Choose the weight your document has to bear.

Plan A · Translated

the faithful crossing

$0.23 / word

Project minimum $390 · rush in 48 hours, +35%

  • Forward translation by a native linguist
  • Independent second-linguist review
  • Terminology glossary kept for your program
  • Signed certificate of accuracy

Best for: protocols, investigator brochures, safety letters, label text.

Plan B · Validated

the crossing, tested on the far shore

$0.41 / word

Project minimum $1,340 · cognitive debrief with 5 native readers per language

  • Two independent forward translations, reconciled
  • Blind back-translation against the source
  • Cognitive debriefing and cultural review report
  • Certificate of linguistic validation

Best for: consent forms, PROs and COAs, patient diaries, anything a patient must understand alone.

A line from a PRO questionnaire, three ways
Source · en-USI felt blue this week.
Literal · esMe sentí azul esta semana.

A patient reads this and wonders about the colour.

Validated · esMe sentí decaído/a esta semana.READS AS INTENDED
03 — What we carry

four kinds of document, one kind of light

clinical trial documents

Protocols, amendments, investigator brochures, CSR synopses, site letters. Terminology is locked once, then held for the length of the program.

From $0.23/wordminimum $390

quote protocols

consent & patient-facing

ICFs, assent forms, PROs, diaries, recruitment copy. Read aloud, tested with native readers, set at a level a tired person can manage.

From $0.41/wordminimum $1,340 · validated

quote a consent form

regulatory submissions

Labeling, patient information leaflets, SmPC text, cover letters, module summaries — set into the template the agency expects.

From $0.27/wordminimum $520

quote a submission

cultural review & certificates

Already translated? We read it cold, mark where it stumbles, and certify what holds.

$96/hourcertificate alone $185 per document

send it for review
typical turnaround, in business days
DocumentUp toTranslatedValidated
Consent form (ICF)5,000 words37
Patient diary / PRO1,500 words38
Protocol synopsis8,000 words4—
Label / patient leaflet6,000 words47

Longer files are quoted by the page. Rush in 48 hours is available at +35%.

04 — The work, counted

a reader in lyon is not a reader in montréal

Locales we write for
7

one language is never one audience

Spanish for a clinic in the Bronx is not Spanish for a site in Madrid. We name the locale in the quote, and write to it.

  • es-US
  • es-419
  • es-ES
  • pt-BR
  • pt-PT
  • fr-FR
  • fr-CA
A symmetrical corridor with diagonal sunlight and a red door at the far end
Stages from source to certificate
5

forward, reconcile, back, debrief, sign

Each stage has a name on it and a date beside it. When your QA team asks how a sentence got to its final form, the file can answer.

A symmetrical stairwell seen from below, railings stacking toward a skylight
05 — The route

from the file you send to the certificate you sign

  1. Day 0

    the file arrives

    You send the source. A written quote reaches you by the next business day.

  2. Days 1–2

    two voices

    Two native linguists translate it apart, never comparing notes.

  3. Day 3

    one voice

    Reconciled into a single text, terms checked against your glossary.

  4. Days 4–6

    the cold read

    Back-translated blind. Native readers say aloud where it snags.

  5. Day 7

    the signature

    Certificate issued, files delivered, one invoice follows.

Timings shown for a consent form of up to 5,000 words at validated weight. Translated-only projects close sooner.

book a 20-minute call — (650) 847-8235
Before you send the file

what people ask the desk first

Will you work inside our CRO’s template?

Yes. Send the template with the source and we translate into it, returning Word, InDesign or PDF-source files in the same structure you gave us.

What does “certified” mean here?

Each project closes with a signed certificate. Plan A gets a certificate of accuracy; Plan B gets a certificate of linguistic validation. Both name the languages, the stages completed and the source version, so an IRB or ethics committee can file it beside the document.

How is a quote built?

By the word of source text, with a project minimum. We count the file, put the figure in writing, and send one invoice per project.

Can you handle a language beyond Spanish, Portuguese and French?

Not yet. We would rather do three languages well than eleven badly. If you need another, we will point you to desks we would trust with our own forms.

06 — The first line

leave the first line. we’ll write the rest.

Call the desk (650) 847-8235

Mon–Fri 11am–4pm, Eastern. Or write to info@gentianlane.com.

Tell us the document, the languages and the date the sites open. The quote comes back in writing.

Send the brief

what are we carrying?

The desk

512 W 136Th St Apt 5A
New York, NY 10031

find the door on west 136th
Mon–Fri11am–4pm
Sat–SunClosed
Call (650) 847-8235Get a quote