The accuracy of a translation is always important and the deadline for the completion of an urgent translation often seems like a matter of life or death. However, in the case of a medical translation, accuracy is often the most vital issue. A particular problem arises when the translator has to deal with abbreviations, which is often the case in medical translations. In many cases, there are several possible abbreviations for the same term, and even sometimes the same abbreviation for multiple terms. A study analyzed medical errors in the United States; between 1,500 and 30,000 of them were due to confusing abbreviations. One of the peculiarities of the medical language is the constant emergence of neologisms, the ubiquitous presence of synonyms, and the constant mixing of obsolete terms with new emerging terminology. The pace of this change often makes it difficult to update and correct referencing dictionaries and specialized glossaries which leads, in turn, to translation problems. However, the most common cause of translation errors in the medical field is the same as in legal and marketing translations: a poorly trained translator. We may then be tempted to entrust a medical translation to a doctor at the expense of good language skills. But tests show that it is better to opt for a translator who has been specially trained in the medical field. In the end, it seems that translation is a profession that requires a certain know-how.