Metaphoric Comprehension And Text Translation Of TCM Classics

There are abundant use of analogical language in TCM Classics like Nei Jing which expounds vividly the physiology and pathology of human body. Such a language pattern resembles that of the metaphors. Contemporary scholars have ascertained the extreme resemblance between the two. Therefore, metaphorical thinking modes can be applied to the comprehension and translation of TCM Classics.By means of data analysis and literature review the study found that there’s a lack of translation study on the text level since most papers have been focusing on the lexical and phrasal translation study of the TCM Classics. Meanwhile, though these papers have laid emphasis on the translation study from a cultural perspective, they seldom gave clear definition of culture. What’s more, most of them were lack of a theoretical foundation. But it’s true that nowadays both linguistic studies and translation studies have undergone a cultural turn.This paper quotes several popular definitions of culture and introduces Susan Bassnett’s translation theory which highlights the importance of culture as a perspective in translation research---both of them work as research foundations here---and then the paper adopts conceptual metaphors as the theoretical guidance of translation analysis. Conceptual metaphor is initially put up as a constitutional part in cognitive linguistics, it has three types of conventional/dead metaphors, namely the ontological metaphor, orientational metaphor and structural metaphor. By means of exemplification the paper illustrates how to apply the metaphorical thinking to comprehend and translate the TCM Classics like Nei Jing. The first step is to be crystal clear of the culture conveyed through the metaphorical language of the original works, the second step is to sort out clearly the main idea, writing purpose of the original works based on the work of the first step, and the third step is to ascertain the cultural meanings and context meanings of the passage, phrases and words respectively based on the text understanding got through the former two steps.The three steps pave a way for better choice of translation strategies and techniques in the following translation processes.Context, here is a substitutional term for culture. It narrows down and specifies the connotation of culture. It refers to the culture that is conveyed through the works’ language-situational contexts, the culture of ancient times when the TCM classics were conceived-historical and social contexts, and the exotic culture which the translated versions of the works will be in. The three types of contexts have had impact on the text comprehension during translation, and such impact, in turn, influences the choice of translation strategy and then the works’ quality. Therefore, it can be concluded that the metaphorical comprehension and translation of the TCM works could be better completed only if within the scheme of culture as the context and by means of metaphorical thinking, no matter it’s the comprehension and translation of the passages, phrases or words. And only in this way can it be possible the translation strategies and technologies be chosen wisely and appropriately.