English-Chinese Translation Of Medical Texts

This translation report selects The End of Mental Illness as practice material,which challenges the standard paradigm of traditional treatment for mental illness and expands the research scope for the field of psychiatry.However,the text presents significant challenges for translators due to its extensive use of terminology,complex sentence structure,and rigorous logic.This report aims to address the translation problems through the analysis of the thematic progression patterns in the source text and ensure the proper conveyance of information and enhancement of coherence in the target text.Case study is the main methodology of this report.About 96 cases of long sentences or segments with a long sentence are collected and categorized into four types by the report according to their thematic progression patterns.The four types are TP with a continuous theme,TP with a continuous rheme,simple linear TP,and combined TP.It is found that the number of simple linear TP accounts for the largest while combined TP remains the least.Translation methods applied in this report are to either maintain the original thematic progression pattern in the source text or reconstruct it.Among the analyzed cases,all types of thematic progression show higher frequency in shifting the patterns of the source text due to the distinctions between English and Chinese.Adjustments involve adding or removing subjects,transforming passive voice to active voice,repetition,omission,changing the word order,and breaking up long sentences.Medical texts highlight the precise delivery of messages and the theory of thematic progression serves as an excellent device to analyze the source text and reconstruct the target text.As thematic progression patterns vary in different medical texts,this report can become accumulative material for further study of medical texts on mental illness and provide advice for relevant translation practice.