An Analysis Of TCM Terminology In Furth's A Flourishing Yin From The Perspective Of Conceptual Integration Theory

Objective: With the rapid development of cognitive science,translation researchers have realized that translation is not only a process of bilingual transformation,but also essentially a cognitive process.The task of translation is to find the language expression that can evoke the same or similar cognitive image schema.American sinologist Charlotte Furth's book A Flourishing Yin:Gender in China's Medical History,960-1665,in terms of its indigenous conceptual framework,explains the features of Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM)from the perspectives of history,society,gender and so on.This paper introduces Conceptual Integration Theory(CIT)into the translation of TCM terminology,studies on the book A Flourishing Yin:Gender in China's Medical History,960-1665.The purpose is to explain the cognitive mechanism of TCM terminology translation with a unique cognitive framework,improve the translation strategy of TCM terms,provide a new perspective for the study of TCM translation.The book A Flourishing Yin: Gender in China's Medical History,960-1665 was written by American sinologist Charlotte Furth,a professor of history at the University of Southern California.She followed three main study paths,medical history,feminism and the body,analyzed the ancient China's medical history for women in Song and Ming Dynasty based on a great number of the ancient Chinese medicine literature.The book not onlyhas a unique perspective,but also has unique features in its English expressions.Because A Flourishing Yin: Gender in China's Medical History,960-1665 integrates multidisciplinary knowledge,it can bring us new ideas for TCM terminology translation through the study.Conceptual integration is the basic way of human thinking,and translation is a cognitive activity.It is familiar to the study of TCM translation from the perspective of cognition,but it is unfamiliar to the study from the perspective of the CIT.The CIT can put the translation process into a dynamic network,and can visually demonstrate the cognitive process of translation.Therefore,by means of CIT,we can recognize the cognitive mechanism of TCM terminology translation,and find out the issues that we have neglected.Traditional Chinese medicine terminology is the basic concept of TCM.Owning to the broad and profound culture of TCM,the translation of TCM terminology is very difficult.The interdisciplinary study of language and translation indicates that the translation of TCM terminology also needs diversified innovation.Therefore,this paper uses the CIT as a study method innovation,the book A Flourishing Yin as a study object innovation,aims to provide a new strategy for the current study of the English translation of TCM.Methods: Literature research method: It reviewed the related literature on Conceptual Integration Theory,translation of TCM terminology and the book A Flourishing Yin,combed the history of the study development,interpreted the main contents of the research,and summarized the existing research results.Interdisciplinary research method: The research crosses a variety of disciplines including cognitive linguistics,translatology,history,medicine,anthropology etc,involves multidisciplinary knowledge such as science and technology history,Whig history,feminism,the outlook on body and so on.Cases study method: A total of 9 cases,11 TCM terms,were selected from the book.The cases show the translation cognitive mechanism of these TCM terms from CIT.Analytic and synthetic method: The paper uses the Conceptual Integration Network to analyze the specific content and thinking operation of the four mental space and Emergent Structure in the translation process.Results: The cases study show that: 1.Conceptual Integration Theory can intuitively and dynamically show the cognitive process of TCM terms translation,and it can be applied in the study of the cognitive mechanism of TCM terminology translation as an effective basic theory;2.The similar cognitive schema both in Chinese and Western cultures is helpful in the compensation for lack of equivalents in TCM terms translation;3.The transliteration or pinyin together with interpretation or paraphrase,the approximate translation,or the translation of the analogue are mostly used in the presence of TCM terms translation in the book-A Flourishing Yin.Conclusions: 1.The Conceptual Integration Theory plays a partial role in the promotion of the cognitive process of understanding and translating TCM terms with a dynamic and intuitive pattern of translation process,and provides TCM translators with a theoretical support in the research of TCM translation;2.Westerners' works on TCM provide a source of reference for TCM translators to study deeply the mechanisms and channels for the integration of Chinese and Western cultural exchanges;3.Transliteration or pinyin together with interpretation or paraphrase,the approximate translation,or the translation of the analogue of TCM terms are acceptable in the western world.