An Ontological Approach To The C-E Translation Of TCM Terms As Exemplified By The Translation Of Terms In Shang Han Lun

With the development of modern terminology,it becomes widely recognized that the ontology of terminology plays an essential role in exploring the better ways in which terms are defined and understood.And the study of terminological ontology may provide a promisingly new perspective for examining and solving the thorny problems of term translation.The present thesis makes a tentative effort to use an ontological approach to the study of term translation,in the field of Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM)in particular.TCM term translation has long been the subject given much weight in term translation studies.However,up to now,most research has been carried out with scrupulous attention only to the linguistic complexity of TCM terms.Previous studies of TCM term translation have concentrated heavily on the specific translation techniques,such as literal translation,free translation and transliteration,which fail to bring positive solutions to those troublesome practical problems.This thesis researches TCM tern translation by taking a new departure,i.e.from the perspective of terminological ontology.Moreover,based on the construction of ontology for TCM term translation,the present research focuses mainly on the systematic working method of TCM term translation rather than the translation techniques merely specific to individual terms.Terminological ontology is a formal,explicit,specific and shared conceptualization of the knowledge in a subject field,terminology being the carrier of concepts and the basic structure on which the ontology is built.Considering the immense volume of TCM terminology and the manageability of the present study,this thesis exemplifies the terminological approach to the C-E translation of TCM terms by the application of terminological ontology to Shang Han Lun term translation.The preparatory work for ontology construction includes term collection,term classification and term relation explication,which are pivotal in that it directly affects the reliability and validity of the ontology,followed by ontology construction.Ontology maintenance follows ontology construction,through which translators may revise,upgrade,and bilingualize the ontology,for its better use in knowledge management.With a detailed discussion on both the theoretical and practical issues related to TCM term translation,it is concluded that terminological ontology does play an important part in the actual process of translating terms.Based on the study of terminological ontology,the domain knowledge of TCM is more accurately described.It helps translators increase their own knowledge of TCM and serves as a management platform of their translation knowledge.The quality and efficiency of term translation can be very much improved,resulting in the overall quality of TCM translation being much more satisfying.The present study is a result of multi-disciplinary involvement of research findings in information science and traditional Chinese medicine.It offers not only a practical and novel solution to the confrontation between complex terminology and limited domain knowledge among translators,but also unveils a new approach to term translation research by emphasizing the knowledge property of term translation,providing a replicable working method,and indicating the importance and necessity of cross-disciplinary efforts in this field.