从归化的角度看中医药说明书的翻译

The Application of Adaptation Strategy in the Translation of Traditional Chinese Medicine Instruction

摘要

作为中国古老文明光辉灿烂的一部分，传统中医学已享有了几千年的历史。经过历代医师和学者们的不断努力，中医学如今已发展成为了一门独特而又综合的医学体系，它对我国人民的富乐安康，乃至世界人民的健康幸福，都发挥着无可比拟的作用。

随着中国加入世界贸易组织（WTO），中医学也进一步迈开了踏入国际市场更宽阔的道路。因此，对于中药及其说明书的翻译在此刻显得尤为重要，因为它与药品的海外宣传和销售紧密相关。中药说明书在一定程度上可视为一种特殊的文学体裁。它不仅告知了药品的功能药效，还传递着一种文化信息。然而，到目前为止我国都鲜少在中药翻译领域中投入过大量的精力和汗水。由于种种主观和客观的原因，今天的中药说明书翻译中出现了各种各样的问题，影响了国外消费者对中药的理解和认知。由此看来，我们的确需要向中药翻译领域投入大量的精力来改变这一现状。

本文将探讨如何应用归化策略来恰当地翻译中药说明书。文章总体上分为了三个部分：第一部分呈现了中药说明书的语言特点和我们的翻译目标；第二部分分析了翻译当中出现的主要问题和造成问题出现的主要原因（主要问题包括翻译不准确、不一致，即缺乏准确性和标准性；其原因主要在于缺乏合格的翻译人员，缺少充足的中医翻译学术研究，缺少与中医术语对等的英文术语）；第三部分通过几个不同的层面以例证的形式说明了归化策略在中药说明书翻译中的应用。笔者相信在忠实说明书原文的基础上，归化策略是用于调整和翻译中药说明书的理想策略。应用方法将在文中通过具体例证进行解释说明。

关键词： 中医，说明书翻译，归化策略，药效

Abstract
As an outstanding part of ancient Chinese civilizations, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) enjoys a long history of thousands of years. It has developed into a unique and integrated medical system which has huge impact on the well-being of domestic residents and people from all over the world.
Since China has joined the WTO, traditional Chinese medicine is making a broader way into the international market. Thus the translation of the TCM instruction becomes very crucial, for it plays an important role in the medicine promotion and selling. The TCM instruction can be regarded as a special literary form. It does not only tell the function but also convey the cultural information. However, little attention and few efforts have been attached to the study and practice of TCM translation. For subjective and objective reasons, today’s TCM instruction translation has presented various problems and mistakes which resulted in a difficult understanding for the foreign consumers. Therefore, a large number of efforts need to be paid to improve the current situation.
This paper will discuss about how to properly translate the TCM instruction by adopting the adaptation strategy. It is generally divided into three major parts. The first part presents the language features and translating goal of the TCM instruction. The second part analyzes the problems in the translation and their main reasons. The major problems include the inaccuracy and inconsistency in the TCM translation. The main reasons include a lack of qualified TCM translators, insufficient TCM translation research and the deficiency of equivalent medical terms. The third part demonstrates the application of adaptation strategy through several points, with detailed cases and examples. This thesis holds that on the base of maintaining fidelity to the source text, the adaptation strategy is desirable to be used to make adjustments in the translation. The methodology will be explained through specific examples.
Key Words: traditional Chinese medicines, TCM, instruction translation, adaptation strategy, efficacy

Contents

摘要 II

Abstract III

1  Introduction 1

2  Literature Review of TCM Translating Theories 2

2.1 Problems of TCM Translation and Their Solutions 2

2.2 Contradiction and Dispute of the Translating Strategy 3

2.3 Objectives of This Paper 4

3  Language Features of TCM and the Goal of Its Translation 5

3.1 The Language Feature of the TCM Instruction 5

3.2 The Translating Goal of TCM Instruction 5

4  Problems in the Translation of TCM Instruction 7

4.1 Inaccuracy in the translation of TCM Instruction 7

4.2 Inconsistency in the translation of TCM Instruction 8

4.3 Reasons for the Translating Problems 8

4.3.1 A Lack of Qualified TCM Translators 8

4.3.2 Insufficient Research on TCM Translation 9

4.3.3 Deficiency of Equivalent Medical Terms 9

5  Application of Adaptation Strategy in the Translation of TCM Instruction 11

5.1 Definition of Adaptation Strategy 11

5.1.1 General Concept of Adaptation Strategy 11

5.1.2 Adaptation Strategy in TCM Translation 12

5.2 Specific Application of Adaptation Strategy in TCM Translation 12

5.2.1 Adaptation Strategy in Translating the Format 12

5.2.2 Adaptation Strategy in Translating the Medicine Name 14

5.2.3 Adaptation Strategy in Translating the Medicine Trademark 15

5.2.4 Adaptation Strategy in Translating the Medicine Efficacy Description 17

5.3 Deletion in the Translation of TCM Instruction 18

6  Conclusion 21

References 22

Appendix 24