A Contrastive Study On The English Translation Of The Disease And Syndrome Terms In Jingui Yaolue From The Perspective Of Aixelá’s Theory Of Culture-specific Items

Recent years have witnessed a growing influence of the Chinese culture on the world stage since China implemented an overseas promotion program called Chinese Culture Going Global.As an integral part of the Chinese culture,the traditional Chinese medicine(TCM hereafter)classics should also be promoted worldwide.Translation is an important carrier to enhance the overseas promotion of TCM classics.However,there exist some problems with the translation of TCM classics and the research in this field with two factors particularly worthy of attention.Firstly,in the past studies,more emphasis is laid on the translation of Huang Di’s Canon of Internal Medicine and Treatise on Febrile Diseases than on many other TCM classics.Secondly,the absence of a targeted theoretical.system has resulted in the varied English versions of TCM terms,let alone the inconsistency in the standards of translation,hence unconducive to the comprehension of the TCM culture by the target readers.Jingui Yaolue,the first TCM classic dealing with the internal miscellaneous diseases,is of guiding significance and practical value for TCM diagnosis and treatment in later generations.The disease and syndrome terms in Jingui Yaolue can help readers gain an in-depth interpretation of this medical work and get a glimpse of the essence of the TCM culture.The study on the English translation of the disease and syndrome terms in Jingui Yaolue will help promote the research on and the standardization of the English translation of TCM terminology and provide support for the overseas promotion of the TCM culture.The thesis elaborates on the strategies for the English translation of the disease and syndrome terms in Jingui Yaolue by referring to the English versions by Li Zhaoguo and Luo Xiwen and applying Javier Franco Aixela’s translation strategies of culture-specific items as the theoretical basis.Among the strategies are repetition,orthographic adaptation,linguistic translation,extratextual gloss and intratextual gloss,which are categorized into conservation,and synonymy,limited universalization,absolute universalization,naturalization,deletion and autonomous creation,which are categorized into substitution.The study finds that the disease and syndrome terms in Jingui Yaolue fall into five categories according to the nomenclature:terms named after the cause of disease,terms named after the symptom and sign,terms named after the mechanism of disease,terms named after the analogy and terms named after the medicinal plant.In translating the terms belonging to the first category,Li Zhaoguo applies the conservative strategy of linguistic translation on most occasions while Luo Xiwen prefers the substitutive strategy of naturalization.In translating the terms falling into the second category,both translators tend to use the substitutive strategies of absolute universalization and naturalization.In translating the terms belonging to the latter three categories,both of them use the conservative strategies of orthographic adaptation(transliteration),linguistic translation and intratextual gloss more often.Generally speaking,while the two translators adopt various strategies to translate the disease and syndrome terms in Jingui Yaolue,Li Zhaoguo does better in translating the terms named after the cause of disease by retaining their cultural connotations.Based on the exemplifications of the English translation of the disease and syndrome terms in Jingui Yaolue,the thesis has summed up the following strategies:transliteration.linguistic translation,intratextual gloss,absolute universalization and naturalization,the former three conservative strategies mainly for the translation of the terms named after the cause of disease,the mechanism of disease,the medicinal plant and the analogy and the latter two substitutive strategies mainly for the translation of the terms named after the symptom and sign.The translators can use a single strategy to translate the disease and syndrome terms in Jingui Yaolue or use a combination of these strategies at the same time so as to better convey the meaning of the terms.The flexible use of the strategies in the English translation of the disease and syndrome terms can help retain the cultural connotation of the source language in Jingui Yaolue and make the translated versions more acceptable to the target readers so as to help promote the recognition and acceptance of the TCM culture on the world stage and ensure that the TCM culture will better serve human health.