On The Translation Of TCM Booklets Of Direction

As an important part of the traditional Chinese culture, the traditional Chinese medicine has a history of more than 3,000 years. It is a treasure to the Chinese people and to the world as well. In the 21st century, the traditional Chinese medicine encounters the greatest opportunities and challenges it has never seen before. In the context of globalization, the TCM authorities take every possible means to promote the publicity of TCM at home and abroad. As we all know, the export of Chinese medicines has been on the increase in the recent years. However, we must not ignore the fact that the traditional Chinese medicine has not been given the legal status in many countries yet. For instance, in some states of the USA, TCM is still outlawed. FDA detains a considerable amount of TCM products every year. The cause for the undesirable result is partly due to the fact that the TCM booklets of directions do not conform to the formats and standards stipulated by the World Health Organization. Largely, the translated booklets of directions leave much to be desired. In the past year, I have collected many TCM booklets with English instructions, and found that some of the translated texts are simply unacceptable. Mistranslation, undertranslation, word-for-word translation, redundancy and even the omission of necessary information are often seen in the translations. This accounts for the reason why I choose the topic for my MA thesis—to find appropriate ways to translate the TCM booklets of direction. To me, the communicative approach by Peter Newmark will go a long way in helping reproduce satisfactory result in translating the TCM booklets of direction.