English Translation Of Four-Word Phrases In Suwen Of Huangdi Neijing (the Plain Questions Of The Yellow Emperor's Classic Of Internal Medicine)

Huangdi Neijing, or the Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine, plays an important role in the history of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), which consists of two volumes, the Plain Questions (PQ) and the Spiritual Pivot. PQ is one of the most important writings on TCM theories. It discusses basic TCM theories, such as treatment based on syndrome-differentiation, Yin-Yang and Wu Xing (five elements), reflecting the philosophical ideas of heaven-human correspondence. With the increase of international communication, many TCM classics have been translated into English. The translations have been improving in their quality and increasing in number. Now, there are at least ten English translations of PQ.Four-word phrase is a specific feature of the Chinese language. English translation of four-word phrases is an important subject in translation studies. In this research, English translations of the four-word phrases in the first 30 chapters of PQ were studied.Methods: Two English versions were selected: the Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine translated by Ilza Veith (1949), and Huangdi Neijing - Yellow Emperor's Canon of Medicine translated by Li Zhaoguo (2005). The native languages of the two translators are English and Chinese respectively, so they represent foreign-to-native and native-to-foreign translations. The data is comprised of a total of 1,042 four-word phrases from each book, forming a 2,084 four-word corpus. Only four-word phrases beginning with function words, nouns and verbs were included. WordSmith Tools (4.0) was used as the analying tool. The forms and features of the two books were compared, their similarities and differences were decided, and the source and theory of the similarities and differences were analyzed. Results: In the first 30 chapters of PQ, there are 2,904 four-word phrases (33%), suggesting the high occurrence of four-word phrases in PQ. There are 1,042 four-word phrases (36%) beginning with nouns, verbs and function words, suggesting the three forms are the most important forms of four-word phrases in PQ.In the two English translations, there are similarities and differences in both structure and vocabulary. Similarities in the structures can be divided into four categories: subject-verb, parallel, attributive-adverbial and interrogative structures. Differences in their structures can be divided into two categories: language levels and subject selection. Similarities and differences in vocabulary are analyzed in two aspects: word choice and number of words used. There are a few similarities in vocabulary choice between the two translations. Most of the time, different words are used in the two versions. Another difference is the number of words used.Structure similarities may come from three factors: stipulation in code-switching, simplicity in meaning, and identical subjects. Vocabulary similarities may indicate the shared comprehension of the basic concepts of TCM. Their differences may come from three factors: different objectives of the two translations, different understanding of theme-rheme, and difference of the translators' native language.