Translating Traditional Chinese Medical Terms Into English From A Cultural Perspective:Principles And Methods

The transmission and dissemination of Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM)to the West consists in the translation of TCM literature.Major difficulties in translating TCM terms lie in transferring and differentiating huge cultural,linguistic and clinical differences between TCM and its Western counterpart.Cultural turn in translation studies shed some light on the standardization of TCM translation.Therefore,it is argued in this dissertation that the goal of translating TCM is to convey a unique part of the Chinese culture.The principle of TCM translation shall be presenting TCM medical information while preserving the unique Chinese culture embedded in TCM systematically,integrally and independently.The strategy of foreignization shall prioritize over domestication.By referring to the scientific definition of terminology,a detailed categorization of TCM terms shall be made before employing integrated methods to serve the principle,which includes(1)Transliteration can be employed to translate the terms unique to TCM culture.(2)The formula of Abbreviation +Codification +(Literal/semantic translation + Transliteration)can be employed to translate acupuncture points.(3)Monosemous TCM terms fall into 2 categories:1)Monosemous TCM terms that have full equivalence in Western medicine can be rendered by adopting Western equivalence.2)monosemous TCM terms which reveal the unique understanding of TCM on the pathomechansims of diseases,literal translation shall prevail to preserve TCM features.(4)Polysemous TCM terms can be classified into three categories.1)Those with determined referents can be literally translated.Carefully determine what a term means in a certain collocation before translating.2)Those with undetermined or vague referents can be literally translated to allow readers to determine their referents by the context.3)Those controversial terms of multiple referents in chronic annotations shall be literally translated.A footnote or endnote can be added for the readers to present multiple explanations of the term.(5)For some lengthy versions,acronym,abbreviation and morpheme translation can be employed to secure the semantic accuracy,structural consistency,morphological conciseness.