The Study Of The Figurative Rhetoric In Yellow Emperor’s Canon Of Medicine From The Perspective Of Relevance Translation Theory

Figurative rhetoric refers to using plain,specific and vivid images instead of abstract and hard-understood ideas.It is one of the most commonly used rhetoric devices in traditional Chinese medicine language.It mainly includes simile,metaphor,and metonymy.Figurative rhetoric can make abstract and complex ideas vivid,and also can make the article become more understandable.However,due to the differences between Chinese and English in culture and language,it is challenging for translators to translate figurative rhetoric.It turns out to be a hard objective for the translator to effectively manifest the characteristic culture of traditional Chinese medicine with easily-understood and acceptable target language,and ultimately to make traditional Chinese medicine go out of China.Relevance Translation Theory develops on the basis of Relevance Theory.Applying Relevance Theory to the field of translation can provide a new method and theoretical support for translation.Relevance Translation Theory believes that translation is a process of dual inferential-ostensive communications in nature,in which the translator acts as dual roles in translation.In the first inferential-ostensive process,the translator acts as the receiver,whose task is to have a correct comprehension of the source text and to pursue the optimal relevance.In the second inferential-ostensive process,the translator acts as the communicator,whose task is to translate the source text according to the target language reader’s cognitive environment.Relevance Translation Theory highlights the importance of the context and believes that the context of the discourse is the premise to explain the discourse.Based on the Relevance Translation Theory,this thesis takes Li Zhaoguo’s translation version and Wu Liansheng and Wu Qi’s translation version of Yellow Emperor’s Canon of Medicine as the research objects,and analyzes the translation of figurative rhetoric in Yellow Emperor’s Canon of Medicine in terms of grammar structures and achievement of optimal relevance.Through comparative analysis,the thesis finds that in the process of translating figurative rhetoric,Li Zhaoguo’s translation mainly depends on the linguistic structure and expression style of the source text.In terms of translation methods,when translating basic concepts,Li Zhaoguo gives priority to transliteration with the help of interpretation;when translating texts,he gives priority to literal translation with the help of free translation,which preserves the source text author’s communicative intentions to a maximum degree.In contrast,Wu Liansheng and Wu Qi mainly focus on free translation with the help of transliteration and interpretation.They try their best to pursue the optimal relevance between the target language reader and the source text author.The thesis believes that in the process of translating figurative rhetoric in Yellow Emperors Canon of Medicine,the translator should first deduce the cognitive context and the text language used in the source culture,and then analyze whether there is the same or similar cognitive context in the target language.According to the cognitive context in the target language,the translator translates the source language text so as to achieve the optimal relevance between the source language text and the target language text.After analyzing the concrete examples,the thesis generalizes the specific translation methods and strategies:restoration of the source text;reader orientation;context dependence.The thesis aims to improve the translation quality of figurative rhetoric in Yellow Emperor ’s Canon of Medicine and thus spread Chinese medical culture to the world and make contributions to the international communication of Chinese medical culture.