What does evidence mean? Most languages translate “evidence” into “proof”

What is it about?

"The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." - George Bernard Shaw Introduction Evidence-based medicine (EBM) introduced in 1991 marks the relationship between medical evidence and clinical practice. In EBM, evidence acts as a neutral arbiter between competing views. EBM enjoys exponential growth on par with innovations such as antibiotics and anesthesia, however, it has not escaped external controversy or internal debate. EBM asserts the trustworthiness of available evidence can determine the confidence we place in the relevant evidence. Crucially evidence is dynamic and comes in gradation of its relationship to the “truth”- high-quality evidence is considered closer to the truth than lower quality evidence. The global reach of the concept of EBM implies it is commensurable or common across languages. Objective To investigate how the term “Evidence" is interpreted across languages and to explore the value of a common definition for the word evidence across languages and cultures. Method To assess how “evidence” is translated across 90 languages, we used Google Translator to translate the term evidence. After obtaining translation of the term “evidence”; we reversed translation to assess variation in how the term “evidence was denoted. We confirmed reliability of the "Google translation" by polling EBM colleagues for whom these languages were their mother tongue. Results We found languages carry distinctly different terms from the meaning of “evidence” in English. In 79/90 or 88% of languages, evidence and proof were used interchangeably and interpreted as "proof, law or terms that disallow grading of evidence quality and minimize the importance of critical appraisal. Conclusions Most languages translate “evidence” as a proof – a distinct concept that assumes certainty in arriving at “conclusion” than what English word “evidence” presumes. The concepts of medical evidence and, thus, EBM are arguably shaped by translation. Adopting the term "evidence" within a language does not retain or assure that the concept of EBM is commensurable or common across languages. When it is stated practice and policy are evidence-based, we benefit from the clarification of what is meant by evidence.

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Why is it important?

Assumptions and misunderstandings come when we fail to define across cultures what the concepts we are portraying mean. For example, many languages translate evidence as proof rather than the furnishing of materials to determine the strength of the concepts