Translation Studies Of Brain System Diseases In Two English Versions Of Huangdi Neijing From The Perspective Of Reception Theory

Objective1. To select the names of brain system diseases in Huangdi Neijing and summarize the etiology and pathogenesis.2. Based on the Reception Theory and the relevant texts of brain system diseases in Huangdi Neijing, to generalize the merit and demerit of the two English versions and give the view that medical and cultural fusion should be reflected in the translation of Huangdi Neijing and give some translation methods for the view, so as to provide new perspective and new idea for the development of the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) translation career and the spread of TCM in the world. The paper mainly studys medical and cultural sense about the translation of Brain System Diseases in Two English Versions of Huangdi Neijing. The reason is that it has typical and representative characters and embodies the attention to readers in translation of Brain System Diseases in two English versions of Huangdi Neijing from the perspective of Reception Theory. It is for the satisfaction of reader’s demands to emphasize and pay attention to medical sense about the translation of Brain System Diseases in Two English Versions of Huangdi Neijing. Besides, it is the respect for different cultural readers’s reading expectation horizon to emphasize and pay attention to cultural sense. The fusion of medicial and cultural sense can make better effect of translation in communication and reception.MethodsFirstly, this paper used method of literature review to generalize the development of brain diseases in TCM from ancient to modern times. Based on review, the author read each chapters of Huangdi Neijing and referred to related paraphrase versions and adopted conceptual analysis to select the relevant texts of brain system diseases in Huangdi Neijing and summarize the etiology and pathogenesis of brain system diseases. Secondly, the author took the Reception Theory as theoretical framework and used the methods of the text comparison and logical analysis to study specific translation cases in Li Zhaoguo’s version and Wu Liansheng and Wu Qi’s version. The author summarized the the merit and demerit of the two versions, made detailed description of the relationships between medicial sense and cultural sense in translation, then gave the view that medical and cultural fusion should be reflected in the translation of Huangdi Neijing from the perspective of Reception Theory, also gave some translation methods for the view.1. The basis of the texts collectionBecause there were a lot of researchers studying Huangdi Neijing and writing many different books to paraphrase the contents of Huangdi Nei jing. And the paraphrase was different. Commentaries on the analysis of the selected texts mainly referred to these versions:the full note and full paraphrase of Huangdi Neijing (mainly written by Zhang Dengben, Sun Lijun, published by New World Press); Collating and annotating of Huangdi Nei jing Suwen and Lingshu (mainly written by Shandong college of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Hebei Medical College, published by People’s Medical Publishing House); Huangdi Neijing reader (mainly written by Yang Dianxing, Deng Yien, Feng Xingkui, Luo Liangjuan, published by the Chemical Industry Press and the Medical Books Publishing Center); At the same time, the author contrasted related journal articles and dissertations from China hownet and related ancient documents, and combined with the books named the Encephalopathy of Traditional Chinese medicine Study (published by People’s Medical Publishing House,2007) and the Practical Neurology Combining Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine(published by People’s Medical Publishing House,2011); the author selected the proper texts about the definition, etiology, pathogenesis, symptoms, treatments of the brain system to compare and analyze from the view of the Reception Theory, so as to explore the research topic.2. The selection of two translation versions(1) YELLOW EMPEROR’s CANON OF INTERNAL MEDICINE (1997). Written by Wu liansheng and Wuqi; Published by the Science and Technology of China Press.(2) YELLOW EMPEROR’S CANON OF MEDICINE-PLAIN CONCERSATION (2005). Written by LI zhaoguo; Published by the World Publishing Corporation.Results1. The statistics of the brain system diseases in Huangdi Neijing were 90, including 22 kinds of diseases about the lesion of the head sensory organs, 41 kinds of diseases about the lesions of the body meridian,27 kinds of diseases about the abnormal mental state. The paper summarized that the name of the brain system diseases mainly based on one or two or more factors of etiology, pathogenesis, symptoms and disease location. The etiologys of the brain system included wind, cold, dampness, hotness of the six exogenous pathogens and anger, partiality on spicy food, long lying on bed, the deficiency of Jing, Qi and blood or the inverse of Qi and blood. The pathogenesis included the imbalance of Yin and Yang, the marrow sea deficiency, the deficiency and inverse of Qi and blood.2. The characters and shortcomings of the two versions:(1) Wu Liansheng and Wuqi’s version:① Book Layout:included directory, translation texts, appendix, used Chinese-English language mode;② Translation Methods:used additional translation, free translation approach without text annotation, the length of the translation texts were more than the original texts length. ③ Loyalty of the translation Information:the translation focused on medical value and translated rich knowledge of TCM and tried to applied to clinical practice, but the translations were relatively casual and there were some missing translations and slips of the pen. ④ The smoothness of the translation: translation languages were flexible, and sentences were fluently and easily to read. (2) Li Zhao’s version:① Book Layout:included the total order, preface, translation instructions brackets, catalog and the translation texts, used the Chinese-English mode, filled digital markers before each paragraph, used plenty of [], (),{} symbol marks to add information. These methods were useful for back-translation and understanding, but too many notations influence the fluency of the translation and influence readers to read the texts in some extent. ② Translation principles:abided by the principle of "translated ancient texts as ancient texts, without interpretation". The translation focused on outputing of TCM culture, kept the translation to be consistent with the original form, did not increase the explaining words as far as possible, reduced information dissipation;③ Translation medthods: about the TCM terms and cultural meaning words, the translator used the strategy of transliteration and annotations in or behind the texts;④ Loyalty of the translation information:The translation texts focused on the academic value and authority of the translation and referred to plenty of ancient annotations. There was little mistranslation or missing translations. And the translation texts not only delivered the original medical information correctly but also retained the cultural characteristics of the original texts;⑤ the smoothness of the translation:The translations were in strict accordance with the structure and expression of the original form without interpretation words. But the grammar and lexical cohesion were not very proper and the fluency of sentences was not very appropriate.3. The author gave the view that medical and cultural fusion should be reflected in the translation of Huangdi Neijing from the perspective of Reception Theory, also gave some translation methods for the view. Firstly, to fully understand the meaning of the original provision and achieve accurate translation. Secondly, literal translation, liberal translation and additional translation could be combined in sentences translation in the process of translation. Thirdly, about the TCM terms in the texts, the transliteration or transliteration combining with paraphrase could be used.ConelusionFirstly, through detail analysis, the author demonstrates the feasibility and importance of the application of the Reception theory in Huangdi Neijing and illustrates the importance of reader in the realization of translation value. This study provides a new perspective for contrast research of translation. Reception theory is not only an effective theory to guide the translation practice, but also a touchstone to verify the translation effect and measure the value of the translation test, as well as provides a relatively objective assessment scale for translation criticism. Secondly, in the Reception theory, the factors including the text, the author, the reader of the text, the translator, the translation version, the readers of the translation version are treated as a whole. It makes the translation process more fully presented. From the perspective of Reception Theory, the evaluation standard of the translation versions can not be only one, because different translators have different understanding about the text, and the translators in the future will also have new understanding about the text, correspondingly, new readers will have new reading expectation horizon. The changes of history and culture, the development of language habits and the differences of living habits and environment will make old translation versions be forgotten, new translation versions be accepted. Therefore, when translating Huangdi Nei jing, the translators only need to make the readers gain the medicial and cultural information from the translation version, just the same as the orginal text readers gain. In this way, the translation versioin is feasible. In order to shrink the differences of culture, language, and medical system between China and western countries, different kinds of translation methods are needed. One method alone can’t solve all the problems of the translation in traditional Chinese medicine. Every translation method owns the most appropriate place. But the most important thing is that, in the translation of traditional Chinese medicine, especially in Huangdi Neijing, the translator must consider the reader’s reception first. Thirdly, because different translators are possibly influenced by their culture and professional knowledge, and their translation versions will present different characteristics and some shortcomings. So, the versions should satisfy the needs of readers, at the same time, the translators should have the abilities of solid foundation knowledge of TCM and deep knowledge of English so that keep the original meanings of the texts.