Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1 Research Background
In the “Nineteenth National Congress”, it is said to implement the strategy of Healthy China, which stresses the equal importance of traditional Chinese medicine and western medicine, the inheritance and development of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM); in 2015, the “Belt and Road” strategic system creates a new pattern of all-round opening of Chinese medicine to the outside world. And the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the National Development and Reform Commission jointly issue the “?Belt and Road? Development Plan” (2016-2020), which attaches great importance to the internationalization of TCM health-care project. In order to make the traditional Chinese medicine go abroad and internationalize, translation of TCM by scholars cannot be neglected at home and abroad.
However, due to the differences between TCM and western medicine in the origin, philosophical basis and so on, many problems in the translation of TCM are considered to be caused by the cultural differences between English and Chinese. The translation of traditional Chinese medicine belongs to the category of scientific and technological translation, involving all kinds of technical terms. Li Sixin (2017) points out that the biggest obstacle to understanding traditional Chinese medicine in the west is numerous terms which are loaded with medical, philosophical, and literary information in the literature of traditional Chinese medicine. Shen Yi (2012) addresses the differences of cultural background and language lead to the deviation in understanding the terms of TCM, especially in understanding the connotation of the life-nurturing terms. She also expresses the translation of life-nurturing terms becomes one of the difficulties in the translation of TCM.
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1.2 Research Objectives and Significance
This thesis aims to evaluate the two English translation versions of Huainanzi from the perspective of “Degree of Holistic Adaption and Selection” to figure out their strong points and weak ones. First, the translation of life-nurturing terms in the two English versions of Huainanzi is analyzed based on three-dimensional transformation to reveal the transformational degree in translating life-nurturing terms, and then the two translated texts are evaluated by referring to the information of readers? responses and translators? qualities to find out a new method in translating terms in traditional Chinese classics.
This thesis makes an effort to research the following three problems: (1)What strategies are employed by the two translators in translating the life-nurturing terms in Huainanzi? (2) What are the readers? responses to the two English versions? (3) What kind of the personal qualities the two translators bear during the translation process?
It seems that the study of the translation of TCM has become a trend in China for the reason that TCM needs to be developed and spread widely all over the world. Due to the imperfection in translating terminology, TCM is still barely to be understood by the people overseas. Based on the research objectives and methods, this thesis analyzes what kind of typical translation strategies and methods the two translators apply in the translation of the life-nurturing terms with all the factors involved in the translation process. Firstly, this thesis will make a supplement to the study of how to translate life-nurturing terms and bring illuminations to further translation practice. Subsequently, it will offer enlightenment to Chinese classics “going global” by analyzing the key points that affect the transmission of TCM in overseas market.
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Chapter 2 Literature Review
2.1 Previous Studies on Translation of Life-Nurturing Terms of TCM
The life-nurturing terms of traditional Chinese medicine belong to the category of medical terms and are a part of the basic terms of medical science and technology. They are mainly used to mark and summarize things, phenomena, characteristics, relations and processes in various fields of medical science and technology (Liu Zhongguang, 2005). Because there are many uncertainties in part of speech, language structure, the active use of parts of speech, the polysemy of the word, etc., it is difficult to define the terms of health maintenance in traditional Chinese medicine conceptually. Based on the basic connotation of health preservation, ShenYi (2006) believes that the health maintenance of traditional Chinese medicine is based on the law of life development, so she assumes that words or phrases that can express the meanings of maintaining body health, preventing diseases, delaying aging, increasing healthy status, raising happiness state and life quality by physical practices and spiritual pursuits are called life-nurturing terms in traditional Chinese medicine.
2.1.1 Previous Studies at Home
At present, some articles have discussed about the translation methods of life-nurturing terms of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) from different angles, such as Shen Yi (2006), by analyzing the different translation methods of the terms involving health maintenance, explores the differences between Chinese and English; She (2012) expounds a better translation method for translating life-nurturing terms of traditional Chinese medicine by comparing and analyzing the existing English translations of ?daoyin?, and thinks that for those terms with clear exercise, diet, living, etc., for terms with rich connotation, transliteration is usually used for translating them, such as “Daoyin”, “Qi”, “Taiji”, “Qigong”, etc.. And in the same year, under the guidance of the ?exible thinking of I Ching and the existing translation theories and principles, she discusses the principles of flexibility in the translation of health-preserving terms from the perspectives of thinking, methods, structures and ambiguity. Zhou Ji and Zhou Yumei (2014), through citing three English translation versions of Huangdi’s Internal Classic ? Plain Questions, compare the English translation of seven typical health-preserving terms, and discuss the translation methods of literal translation, free translation, transliteration-literal/free translation, or “transliteration + explanation” in translating life-nurturing terms.
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2.2 Previous Studies on Theory of Translation as Adaption and Selection
The theory of translation as adaption and selection is a translation study based on the “adaptation and selection” of Darwin?s theory of evolution, combining with the ecological environment in which the source language and the target language are located. It comes into being in the trend of ecological development and reflects the development trend from one discipline to multi-discipline. Since Professor Hu Gengshen puts forward it in 2001, it has gone through the course of more than ten years. Through collection and integration, the development of the theory is summarized as follows:
2.2.1 Previous Studies at Home
It is commonly believed that “adaption” and “selection” are put forward by Hu Gengshen, a professor in Tsinghua University in history. Nevertheless, “adaption” and “selection” have been mentioned earlier. Liu Miqing claims “adaption” requires the target text to be adapted to the source text, and states that the translator should select when translating (1995:344). Sun Zhili writes that the translator will meet with selection of domestication and foreignization in translation (1999:36).
7 thinks that translating Chinese medicine terminology cannot copy the vocabulary in western medicine, which may destroy the essential characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine and make the Chinese medicine learners misunderstand the culture and the concept of traditional Chinese medicine. The other is the “reader-oriented” translation theory, which is represented by Bankant, who believes that the translator should take readers as the starting point and adopt flexible and diverse translation methods for the purpose of being able to receive freely. It can be seen that from the embodiment of the above studies, the research on the translation of health-preserving terms of Chinese medicine is lagging behind, and there have been no scholars exploring the strategies of how to translate life-nurturing terms of traditional Chinese medicine based on the guidance of a criterion of translation evaluation. Therefore, under the instruction of the theory of translation as adaption and selection and the criterion of its translation evaluation, the author tries to analyze the methods of translating health-preserving terms in the classical books of traditional Chinese medicine, so as to provide a reference for the translation of health-preserving terms into English. 2.2 Previous Studies on Theory of Translation as Adaption and Selection The theory of translation as adaption and selection is a translation study based on the “adaptation and selection” of Darwin?s theory of evolution, combining with the ecological environment in which the source language and the target language are located. It comes into being in the trend of ecological development and reflects the development trend from one discipline to multi-discipline. Since Professor Hu Gengshen puts forward it in 2001, it has gone through the course of more than ten years. Through collection and integration, the development of the theory is summarized as follows: 2.2.1 Previous Studies at Home It is commonly believed that “adaption” and “selection” are put forward by Hu Gengshen, a professor in Tsinghua University in history. Nevertheless, “adaption” and “selection” have been mentioned earlier. Liu Miqing claims “adaption” requires the target text to be adapted to the source text, and states that the translator should select when translating (1995:344). Sun Zhili writes that the translator will meet with selection of domestication and foreignization in translation (1999:36). Professor Hu Gengshen publishes his first paper, “A preliminary study on the approach to translation as adaption and selection” in 2001, which opens up the theoretical study of ecological translation in China. In 2004, he releases the papers “from ?translator subjectivity? to ?translator center?”, “a preliminary study on translation theory”, and “philosophical basis of the theory of translation as adaptation and selection” to further clarify the theory. Subsequently, he published his book, AN APPROACH TO TANSLATION AS ADAPTATION AND SELECTION, which expounds how the translator adapts and selects in the ecological translation environment from the aspects of the related comments of translation theory, the philosophical rationale of the theory, and the translator?s leading role in translation activities, etc.
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Chapter 3 Theoretical Framework ..................................... 13
3.1 Introduction to “Theory of Translation as Adaption and Selection” ................................. 13
3.2 Introduction to “Degree of Holistic Adaption and Selection” ........................................... 14
Chapter4 A Comparative Study on English Translation of TCM Life-Nurturing Terms in Huainanzi under the “Degree of Holistic Adaption and Selection” ............................. 17
4.1 Transformation in Multiple Dimensions ........................................... 17
4.1.1 Transformation in Linguistic Dimension ............................................. 17
4.1.2. Transformation in Cultural Dimension ................................. 24
Chapter 5 Conclusion ................................... 49
5.1 Major Findings ................................ 49
5.2 Limitations of the Study ............................. 50
Chapter4 A Comparative Study on English Translation of TCM Life-Nurturing Terms in Huainanzi under the “Degree of Holistic Adaption and Selection”
4.1 Transformation in Multiple Dimensions
Professor Hu says that the translation is the transformation from one language to another. Specifically speaking, the translator should first adapt to the source language, and then selects the ultimate expressions into target language (Hu Gengshen, 2004:120). The main method can be outlined as multidimensional transformation, mainly including transformation in linguistic, cultural, and communicative dimensions.
4.1.1 Transformation in Linguistic Dimension
The adaptive selection transformation of linguistic dimension is the adaptive selection made by the translator in terms of language form, word order and sentence pattern in the process of translation. This selective transformation takes place at different levels of language. In other words, the translator should consider the transformation of the meanings of the characters, sentence patterns and textual style in the process of translation. A good command for language is the premise of a good translation.
Huainanzi is completed before 2000 years ago, and it is an ancient masterpiece, making in Chinese ancient language, full of archaic, blurred, abstract words. And it has the characteristics of being different in language and writing, being concise in writing, being difficult in understanding. Therefore, the translator is not only required to have a strong bilingual ability, but also to bear the ability to read and analyze ancient texts.
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Chapter 5 Conclusion
5.1 Major Findings
reference(omittrd)