A Study On The English Translation Of Culture-Specific Items In Huangdi Neijing From The Perspective Of Skopos Theory

Huangdi Neijing(HDNJ for short)is one of the earliest classics in China's existing medical books,marking the formation of the theories of Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM for short).It plays an important role during the spread of the TCM culture to the Western world.In recent years,overseas spreading of the TCM culture has gained increasingly extensive attention with a more prominent position,so scholars should adapt to the current situation and pay more attention to the English translation of HDNJ so as to make more achievements in the study on English translation.One of the biggest characteristics of the language in HDNJ is its massive amount of culture-specific items(CSIs for short)reflecting the distinctive features of the Chinese culture.The CSIs in HDNJ are the typical representations of the Chinese culture both nationally and indigenously,so the translation of CSIs is conductive to strengthening the medical and cultural exchanges and integration between China and other countries in the world.Therefore,it is necessary to study the English translation of CSIs in the English versions of HDNJ.This thesis studies the English translation of CSIs by making contrastive analysis of the version of Wu Liansheng and his son Wu Qi and Li Zhaoguo's version from the perspective of the Skopos Theory.The Skopos Theory provides a new perspective for the translation studies and has a strong guiding significance.After sorting out the text type of the source text of HDNJ and the intended purposes,intended readers and translation background of the two English versions,the thesis mainly analyzes the different approaches to the English translation of the CSIs in Wu's version and Li's version from the theoretical perspective of the skopos,coherence and fidelity rules proposed by Vermeer.In the concluding part,the author has recommended unique translation skills pertinent to the English translation of the culture-specific items in the scope of the Skopos Theory:(1)Concerning the CSIs with unique connotations and rich concepts,it is best to use transliteration to better meet the skopos rule and fidelity rule.(2)The English translation of medicine-specific culture items can be rendered by using equivalents in Western medicine,which will help improve the comprehensibility and acceptability of these CSIs and meet the coherence rule.(3)The same CSI may have different meanings in different contexts.This requires that the translator does not rigidly adhere to the source text but understands and translates according to the context to ensure the consistency of translation and the accuracy of information.(4)For some CSIs that are almost no longer in use,it is necessary to decisively abandon transliteration or literal translation and use free translation directly to help readers understand the translated version.(5)In order to fully reproduce the academic value of HDNJ,the translator needs to refer to various annotations of ancient physicians to deduce a most appropriate translation instead of blindly creating a translation.These translation skills are feasible to guide the English translation of CSIs,also have a guiding effect on the English translation of CSIs,English translation of TCM and even the translation of the Chinese classics in the future.