Research On The Function Of The Instruction Manual Of Tonic Chinese Patent Medicines And The English Translation

ObjectivesThe study analyzes language features,the status quo of English translation of actions and indications of instruction of tonification-related Chinese patent drugs and investigates the foreign consumers,understanding and acceptance of English translation of actions and indications of the drugs mentioned above.And based on the above aspects,this study discusses how text typology guides practice of the English translation,and provides reference for English translation strategies of actions and indications of instruction of tonification-related Chinese patent drugs.MethodsThe research methods of this study include text analysis and questionnaire survey.(1)Text analysisBy analyzing language features and translation of actions and indications of 19 instructions(Chinese and English version)of tonification-related Chinese patent drugs,the existing problems and strategies of English translation were summarized.(2)Questionnaire surveyA questionnaire survey was conducted to 92 foreign consumers,from which the information about foreign consumers,understanding and acceptance of English translation of actions and indications of instruction of tonification-related Chinese patent drugs was obtained from three aspects including basic information of foreign consumers,their knowledge of Chinese medicine,and their assessments and suggestions of terminologies and discourses of actions and indications of the instructions(English version).Results(1)Text analysis resultsThrough text analysis,it was found that actions and indications of tonification-related Chinese patent drugs had the following characteristics:four-character terminologies accounts for a large portion;the lexical structures of therapeutic method terminologies are of verb-object construction and verb-object joint construction;pathogenesis terminologies are mostly of modifier-head construction,the discourse structure generally includes "treatment+(pathogenesis)+symptoms,disease".It was also found that translation problems of actions and indications of instructions of tonification-related Chinese patent drugs mainly lie in inconsistent translation standard of terminologies and logical confusion in discourses.(2)Questionnaire survey resultsThrough the questionnaire survey,it was found that foreign consumers have relatively low acceptance of Chinese patent drugs in contrast to acupuncture,cupping and Chinese herbal medicine,and foreign consumers tend to accept English instructions that use simple words with concise discourse structures.ConclusionsIn the light of theory of text typology,and the results of text analysis and questionnaire survey,this study draws the following conclusions concerning the status quo of English translation and translation strategies of instructions of actions and indications of tonification-related Chinese patent drugs.(1)The status quo of English translation of instructions of actions and indications of tonification-related Chinese patent drugsTranslation problems of instructions of actions and indications of tonification-related Chinese patent drugs are concluded as inconsistent translation of section title,substantival and verbal terminologies,translation errors and improper logical relations of the elements in the terminologies and texts.Besides,substance errors refer to mistakes in spelling and punctuation.Causes of the above-mentioned problems could be attributed to the translators'poor language skills and lack of TCM knowledge,inconsistent translation standards,and non-standard expressions of instructions of Chinese patent drugs.(2)Translation strategies of instructions of actions and indications of tonification-related Chinese patent drugs? For translation of section title,"gong neng "and "zhu zhi" could be translated into"Actions" "Indications" respectively by relating to the connotation of section title and expressions in the instructions of western medicine that could be more familiar to the consumers.? For translation of therapeutic method and pathogenesis terminologies,substantival,verb and headword should be analyzed and determined according to the exact meaning of the source terminologies,and then determined the translation pattern of terminologies by analyzing structural characteristics and logical relations of terminologies.As for therapeutic method terminologies of verb-object construction,"V+O" is recommended;and for verb-object joint construction,"V+O,V+O" or "V+O+to+V+O" is recommended.For translation of pathogenesis terminologies of modifier-head construction,the structure of"modifier+headword" is recommended.? For translation of symptoms or diseases terminologies,borrowing corresponding western medical terminologies is desirable in the case of the fact that TCM terminologies'connotation and denotation are consistent with western medicine.Meanwhile,in order to help foreign consumers understand medical information in the instructions and make the instructions work at full capacity,common words should be used.?As for translation of pathogenesis,symptoms and diseases terminologies which are difficult to understand,annotation could be adopted to convey medical information accurately and to achieve the purpose of communication.? For translation of discourse.In order to makes the text structure clearer and makes it easier for consumers to find the information they want to know,"actions and indications" of instruction should be displayed separately.Adding cohesion and reorganizing contents of"actions and indications" appropriately could be adapted to manifesting the logical relations in the discourses of "indications" and communicating medical information accurately.Therefore,the part of "indications" could be translated into "symptoms/diseases+caused by+pathogenesis" or "diseases+caused by+pathogenesis.The symptoms include+symptoms" in accordance with different text structures of "indications".