A Comparative Study Of English Translations Of Verbs In Four-character TCM Treatment Terms From The Perspective Of Skopos Theory

Traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)is a discipline that studies human physiology,pathology,and diagnosis and prevention of diseases,which is gradually formed and developed through long-term medical practice under the guidance of ancient naive materialism and spontaneous dialectics.Driven by reform and opening up and the “Belt and Road” initiative,TCM has accelerated its pace to the world.Treatment is one of the indispensable parts of TCM system.At present,there is relatively little research on the translation of TCM treatment(TCMT)and lack of guidance on translation theory,which has caused great difficulties for TCM translation and international communication.Four-character terms occupy a large proportion of TCMT.Thus,taking 382four-character TCMT terms in the Dictionary of Commonly Used Terminology of Traditional Chinese Medicine edited by Li Zhenji as s reference,this paper collects 102 terms with translation in both Li Zhaoguo’s Concise Chinese-English Dictionary of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Nigel Wiseman’s Practical English Traditional Chinese Medicine Dictionary.Under the guidance of skopos theory,these terms are analyzed in terms of logical structure and translation method,which may provide a new perspective for TCM translation,offering the translator great flexibility.The logical structure of the four-character TCMT can be divided into “purpose,coordinating,and transition”.Due to the different cultural backgrounds and translation purposes of them,the conjunctions and translation methods used are significantly different.Moreover,the translations pay less attention to the systematic,which is manifested in the following: verbs are translated the same in different terms,verbs are translated differently in the same terms,and verbs are translated differently in the near-synonym terms.The thesis suggests that the translator should clarify the meaning of the term,analyze the logical structure,and select the appropriate conjunction.Meanwhile,clarify the meaning of the verb and choose the corresponding English translation accurately under the guidance of skopos theory,to ensure the accuracy,conciseness,and systematicness of the overall translation.