A Comparative Study On Translations Of Metonymy In Four English Versions Of Huang Di Nei Jing In Light Of Reference

This article argues the best way to translate the metonymy content from Huang Di Nei Jing in light of “reference”, by comparing four English versions.Since Huang Di Nei Jing carries strong characteristics of traditional Chinese culture, especially in the content with the rhetoric devices, this article emphasizes on studying the translation of the metonymy content from Huang Di Nei Jing as there might not be a tie between the original referent and the referential lexical item in English. By following the guidance of reference put forward by Halliday & Hasan and Brown & Yule, a comparative study about the metonymy translation is made based on English versions from four different writers, namely, Paul U. Unschuld, Maoshing Ni’s, Nelson Liansheng Wu & Andrew Qi Wu’s, and Li Zhaoguo’s.This article concludes that 1) translators need to specify the type of their readership before doing translations; 2) it is necessary to study whether the reader can build up correspondent representation so that the reference can be interpreted correctly; 3) The language of Huang Di Nei Jing in English should be simple and concise.The translation standards of Huang Di Nei Jing have been fiercely discussed over years, and today the agreement still fails to be reached. The aim of this article is to provide a new perspective to TCM scholars and translators, and it is hoped that this research can present some reference on the profound study on English translation of TCM classis.