A Comparative Study Of English Translation Of Four-character TCM Terminology Verbs

As the core of translation of traditional Chinese medicine (hereinafter as TCM), TCM terminology translation has been the research focus in the past decades. However, bibliometric studies of TCM translation have shown that most researchers centred on the translation of basic terms of TCM, such as terms related to yin and yang, five elements, qi, blood and body fluid, and viscera. Translation research on TCM clinical terms, to some extent, has been largely ignored.Aims:TCM pathogenesis terms constitute an important part of TCM terms and have their unique linguistic features. Regardless of the significant role of pathogenesis in the diagnosis and treatment of TCM, translation studies in this area remain unsatisfactory. Qualitative studies outweigh qualitative studies with inadequate guidance of translation theories and repeated findings and conclusions drawn from the similar research. Moreover, samplings in the previous researches are not systematical and representative, therefore, the findings of the researches tend to be quite objective and unconvincing. The purpose of this study is to identify the commonly used verbs of the four-character terms of pathogenic of heart and lungs, and further explore the English translation by comparing six different versions.Methodology:54 commonly used four-character TCM heart and lungs pathogenesis terms from TCM Commonly Used Terminology Dictionary were chosen as sample terms. Then they were classified into several categories based on their lexical structures, namely, substantive (noun) phrase and predictive (verb) phrase. The predictive (verb) phrases were further grouped into subject-predicate structure, subject-objects-verb structure, and coordinate structure. Based on these 54 terms,27 verbs were selected and the corresponding English translation versions from 6 prominent and influential dictionaries (WHO's version, WFCMS's version, CTTCM's version, Xie's version, Li's version, Wiseman's version) were collected. This small-scaled corpus provided parallel data for a comparative study of the translation of TCM pathogenesis terms.Findings:The research has firstly identified 27 commonly used verbs in the four-character TCM pathogenesis terms of heart and lungs. They are????(?)??(?) ?????(?)??????(?)?????????????????????????????????????It has pointd out that translators should take both sematics and sytax of the terms into consideration in tralsation. Specifically, translators should clarify the meaning of the terms and well as identiying the meaning of the verbs itself and the meaning of the verbs in the context. Besides, the sytax of the terms should be studied to make the logic of the term explicit to understand. The research has also found out that most TCM term translators ignored systematinizatoin, one of the most important principles in terminology translation. The existing versions manefisted the following forur problems:the same soruce term has different versions of translation, the different source terms have the same version of translation, the near-synomyms in soure terms have different sytactic structure, and the near-synomyms in source terms have a variety of translation versions in target terms.Conclusion:The study arrived at the following conclusitons:Firstly, verb is the of the four-character pathogenesis terms, and also the key of its translation. Secondly, verb is also the crux of four-character pathogenesis terms translation. Therefore, thranslators should adhere to correctness and systematization, two main principles in termilology translation. By so doing, translators should not only clarify the exact meaning, but also identify the logic of syntax of the terms. Moreover, translators should discriminate the near-synonyms in source terms and match the corresponding near-synonyms in target terms to achieve correctness and systematization. It is crucial to locate a corresponding English verb which matches the meaning and style of the original term, therefore, the feature of the source language could be preserved. Lastly, simplicity is also a principle to follow in TCM terminology translation.Standardization of TCM terminology translation has been and will also be the focus of TCM translation studies. This study, with the emphasis on verb translation, was conducted more comprehensive and systematic in selecting TCM terms and using six versions of translation, compared with the previous studies. It applied terminology translation principles in analyzing different versions of TCM term transaltion. It also pointed out that systematization in TCM term translation has been largely ignored and should be taken into consideration, otherwise, it will be an obstacle in the process of standardization of TCM terminology translation. Lastly, It enriched the content of TCM clinical terms translation and provided a new perspective in this area.Undoubtedly, there is limitation in this study. On the one hand, TCM terms translation in essence is translation, but this study has not been sufficiently supported by the relevant translation theories. As the translation theory system of TCM is still under way, more studies should be conducted in the development of TCM translation theory. On the other hand, the TCM terms and their corresponding English translation are selected from limited dictionaries, the findings might not be inclusive. Lastly, the findings and suggested translation version need further and more in-depth examination.