毕业论文-C-E Translation of Culture-loaded Words in Huangdi Neijing.docx

Hubei University of Chinese Medicine 毕业论文题 目： C-E Translation of Culture-loaded Words in Huangdi Neijing 姓 名： 指导老师： 学 号： 专 业： 英 语 年 级： 2012级 完成日期： 2016 年 5 月 20 日1C-E Translation of Culture-loaded Words in Huangdi NeijingA ThesisSubmitted for Obtaining the B.A. Degree fromSchool of Foreign Languages,Hubei University of Chinese MedicineByWei YanyanSupervisedByTeacher Xu XiaopengMay 20, 20162SignatureThe thesis C-E Translation of culture-loaded words in Huangdi Neijing by Wei Yanyan was reviewed and approved by Xu Xiaopeng on May 12, 2016.Supervisor_ (Signature) 3Acknowledgment I would like to present my gratitude to a number of people who have given me valuable advice and encouragement in writing this thesis. This thesis would never have been completed without their help. First and foremost, I would like to express my earnest gratitude to my supervisor, Xu Xiaopeng, for her intellectual guidance and her warm and constant encouragement. During the process of writing this thesis, she inspired my interest in translation research, offered me valuable suggestions in choosing this topic, guided me through the writing of this thesis, read my manuscripts patiently and made significant improvements in each part of this thesis. I also want to show my gratitude to all the teachers in School of Foreign Languages of Hubei University of Chinese Medicine who have provided me with inspiration and useful information, and given me greatest encouragement.Abstract: Huandi neijing, the Yellow Emperors Classical of Internal Medicine, abbreviated as Nei Jing, is the top treasure in the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) history. It has laid a theoretical foundation for TCM, which is viewed as the most important among the four classical works on TCM. Its succinct language powerfully shows the Chinese culture. It contains a great variety of culture-loaded words, so to understand and translate those words correctly influences the spread of Chinese culture and TCM teaching directly. Meanwhile, the translation of culture-loaded words in Huandi neijing becomes important and meaningful. Wonderful translation methods can help readers understand and master TCM better. Therefore, this essay mainly discusses the translation methods of culture-loaded words.This thesis contains five parts. The chapter one gives a general introduction about the research background, research objectives and research significance, research methods and thesis structure. The second chapter tells the relationship between culture and language, general principles to translate the culture-loaded words as well. The third chapter introduces the C-E translation of culture-loaded words in Huangdi Neijing by contrastively analyzing two versions of translation of the same culture-loaded words by two translators - Li Zhaoguo and Ilza Veith, and concludes the translating ideas and features of different translators. The forth part discusses several translation methods of culture-loaded words. The fifth chapter is the conclusion.Key words: Huangdi Neijing; culture-loaded words; classics; translation摘要: 黄帝内经，简称内经，是中医史上的一部魁宝，奠基了中医的理论基础，被列为四大经典著作之首。他的语言精练，文本具有浓厚的文化色彩，有着较高的医学价值和文学价值。与此同时，它含有大量的文化负载词，准确的理解和翻译这些词对文化的传播和中医教学有着至关重要的影响，所以黄帝内经中文化负载词的翻译变得越来越重要和有意义。精妙的翻译方法可以更好的帮助读者理解和掌握黄帝内经。因此本文主要讨论文化负载词的翻译方法。 本文共分六章。第一章综述了论文的研究背景、理论基础、研究意义及研究方法。第二章论述了文化的定义以及语言、文化关系，文化负载词翻译的一般性原则。第三章引入黄帝内经中文化负载词的中英文翻译研究，作者将从内经译者李照国、Ilza Veith、二个译本中对同一个文化负载词进行对比分析，总结提出译者的翻译思想和翻译特点。第四章文化负载词的英译方法思考。第五章为本文的总结章。关键词：黄帝内经；文化负载词；典籍；翻译 ContentsAcknowledgements.IAbstract in English.IIAbstract in Chinese.III 1.0 Introduction.11.1 Research Background.11.2 Research Objectives and Significance .11.3 Research Method and Thesis Structure.2 2.0 Translation of Culture-loaded Words.32.1 The Relationship Between Language and Culture .32.2 The Definition of Culture-loaded Words and Its Characteristics.32.3 Principles to Translate Culture- loaded Words.5 3.0 Studies of the Translation of Huangdi Neijing.53.1 Comparison Between the Version by Li Zhaoguo and That by Ilza Veith.53.2 An Analysis of the Characteristics of Two Translation Versions .7 4.0 Methods to Translate Culture-loaded Words in Huangdi Neijing.84.1 Transliteration with Explanation.94.2 Flexible Use of Annotation.94.3 Alternative Translation.104.4 Non-translation.10 5.0 Conclusion.10 Bibliography.12III1.0 Introduction 1.1 Research BackgroundWith the development of Chinese science and technology, Chinese culture becomes a sign of powerful country. There are various forms of Chinese culture, mainly including food culture, festival culture and custom culture, etc. China becomes famous in the world for its long history, which makes Chinese culture precious and gives it strong language characteristics. Therefore, the traditional Chinese culture becomes particularly the quintessence of Chinese civilization.Influenced by the traditional Chinese philosophy and geography, TCM forms the special traditional Chinese culture. It contains a multiple of culture-loaded words which can reflect the culture. Those words and phrases give the translators a great challenge to understand. Therefore, culture-loaded words are the most significant and difficulty parts for the translation of Huangdi Neijing. The quality of Huangdi Neijing translation is closely related to the spread of Chinese culture. TCM is viewed as an important part of traditional Chinese culture, contributing a lot to help peoples health for thousands years. Even today, though modern medicine is developing rapidly, TCM still plays an unique role in prevention and treatment of diseases. Furthermore, TCM is developing toward internationalization. With the legalization of TCM in some foreign regions, more and more foreigners have begun to learn the ancient and mysterious eastern medicine and praise its treatment effects. Many universities have admitted overseas students. A number of overseas students come to China to study TCM. Huangdi Neijing is the representative of TCM in Chinese culture. Therefore, an accurate translationof Huangdi Neijing becomes a key to spread TCM.1.2 Research Objectives and SignificanceUnique Chinese cultural elements build obstacles for TL readers, which is the main reason why the translation of culture-loaded words is hard to be perfect. Many researches pay much attention to the strategies to translate those words into English. How to translate culture-loaded words appropriately and enable TL readers to appreciate the essence of Huangdi Neijing has become a heated topic in academic field. The objectives of the present research can be stated as the following points.First, Huangdi Neijing, as a fundamental work of TCM, needs a precise translation to help the standardization of TCM terminology. Studying the translation of culture-loaded words has a meaningful significance for the education of overseas students. A number of overseas students come China to study TCM. English is their basic language, and Huangdi Neijing is their basic course. The translation quality of TCM is related to the educational quality of overseas students. Next, the essence of translating culture-loaded words is to convey the cultural connotation and the exchange of culture. The successful translation of TCM can not only facilitate our communication with outside world about medicine but also develop Chinese civilization. As a result, I hope this paper can bring TCM translators some enlightenment and give them some guidance. 1.3 Research Methods and Thesis StructureIn this thesis, comparative analysis is made to study the translations of Huangdi Neijing by Li Zhaoguo and Ilza Veith each, concluding their differences in dealing with culture-loaded words. The author analyzes two different versions from the perspective of their backgrounds and translation strategies, and compares their advantages and disadvantages by raising some examples. Then, the standard to translate culture-loaded words is concluded. In this process, translation criticism will be involved because “it is an essential link between translation theory and practice” (Newmark, 2001:184). This thesis consists of five parts. The first chapter gives a general introduction about the research background, research objectives and research significance, research methods and thesis structure. The second chapter tells the relationship between culture and language and makes the conclusion that in translation studies language is an indispensable factor when culture is explored. It also concludes two general principles to translate culture-loaded words. The chapter three introduces the C-E translation of culture-loaded words in Huangdi Neijing by contrastively analyzing different translation versions of the same culture-loaded words by two translators - Li Zhaoguo and Ilza Veith, and concludes their different translating ideas and features. The chapter four discusses several translation methods of culture-loaded words. The chapter five is the conclusion.2.0 Translation of Culture-loaded Words 2.1 The Relationship Between Language and CultureLanguage is an important way to communicate and express the feeling. It plays a significant role in the human evolution and social development. The general culture is the sum of all the material and spiritual wealth created by human beings. (Gao Changjiang, 1992:7) While Nida thinks that culture concludes immaterial morphology things, such as custom, language, thinking way, family modal and so on. ( 2006:78) In a word, culture is the local value and customs of a country or a nation formed by the historical product. Culture reflects the unique activities which sets a specific region apart from other regions in the process of historical development. (Liao Qiyi, 2002:232) Language and culture in different countries are unique. Language is not only the carrier of culture, also the important part of culture. Only under the impact of culture environment, can language be meaningful. (Bassnett, 2006:82) Language is the unique cultural deposits of a country or a nation. It is difficult to achieve the cultural inheritance without language. An obvious example is the greeting ways between Chinese and western people. Because China is a famousfarmingcommunity,there are a lot of expressions related to “food” in the daily life. When people meet each other, they will ask, “have you eaten?” for greeting. This way of greeting is just as same as “hello” in western country. In China, to ask whether the other person have had the breakfast is a common way to say “hi”, but the foreigners do not think so. They may doubt that, “You have nothing to eat?” or “Id better ask this person to go to my house for a dinner.” All in all, this meansan invitationtodinnersometimes. Another way of greeting in China is “where are you going?” or “where have you been?”. In China, this greeting is just a polite way to show friendliness. But if you use these sentences to greet western people, they will feel unhappy. They may feel offended because itsnone of others business. Western people always talk about the weather when they meet. They respect the privacy of others, and will not ask others for their private information. 2.2 The Definition of Culture- loaded Words and its CharacteristicsVocabulary is the basic unit of language. With the impact of culture and language, lots of culture-loaded words are created. These culture-loaded words carry the local cultural information, which reflect the local cultural features directly or indirectly. Those words which carry specific information have no corresponding meaning in the target language. That is why culture-loaded words exist. (Bao Huinan, Bao Ang, 2004:10) Chinese idioms and literary quotations are both culture-loaded words. Take “琅琊榜” as an example. This is a famous Chinese TV play, telling a story in which the hero “梅长苏” helped his best friend become an upright and honest king. “琅琊榜” is translated into “Nirvana in fire”. Nirvana mean “火中涅磐” in Chinese, which show that a person changes his thought and attitude toward life after his destructive experience. According to the plot, the translation properly conveys the essence of the story. While according to Mona Baker, “The source-language word may express a concept which is totally unknown in the target culture. The concept may be abstract or concrete. It may relate to a religious belief, a social custom, or a type of food. Such concepts are often referred to as culture-specific” (2000:21). Louis B. Salomon, a famous American linguist, defines the terms containing profound cultural connotations as “vocabulary blanks” and “semantic unfacts”. Other theorists give the name like “culture-loaded words” or “culture-specific, culturally conditioned words” . But no matter how different these names are, they all refer to the same kind of words. Those words carry cultural meanings. For the convenience for discussion, all the words discussed in this essay are called “culture-loaded words”. Generally speaking, culture-loaded words have the following three main characteristics. The first is that they carry a kind of peculiar and unique culture. Culture-loaded words carry specific cultural information and suggest deep national culture. Therefore they are the direct or indirect reflection of national culture. (Hu Wenzhong, 1999:64) Lots of culture-loaded words convey special culture. They only exist in a specific social or ecological setting, so we can say that they directly reflect the culture of an ethnic group. For example, the terms such as “步步惊心” can only be found in Chinese culture. The second is that they are full of cultural connotations or associative reflection. Some culture-loaded words are full of abundant cultural connotations. Lets take “五行” as an examples. In Chinese, “五行” includes metal, wood, water, fire and earth. But it is translated into five-elements or five-phases. Since these words carry rich connotations, literal translation will give rise to culture losses. The third is that it is difficult and even impossible to find equivalents in other cultures. Culture-loaded words are closely related to the cultural background of those speaking the language, and represent the concepts of those things produced from that special culture, so it is difficult to find the complete equivalents. For example, “甄嬛传” is translated into “Empresses in the Palace”. When Chinese see the name “甄嬛传”, they all know that this teleplay stresses the woman whose name is甄嬛and her entire life in the palace. While in America, they translate it into “Empresses in the Palace”. This translation shows that this TV play tells the life experiences of all the empress in the palace, rather than “甄嬛” only. It is mainly because Americans do not praise highly individualism.2.3 Principles to Translate Culture-loaded Words The first principle is about the spreading of Chinese culture, which depends on whether the translator can keep the uniqueness of source language. Under the guidance of the translation principle, the translators should understand culture-loaded words as accurately as possible, and find the corresponding words in target language. Only in this way can the readers deeply understand the culture connotation of the source language, and feel the culture charm of the source language. The secondary principle is about reader acceptance, which is the most important factor to be considered in the target language. Only when translators have to choose the words and phrases which are familiar to the target language reader, can the readers understand the source language easily and precisely 3.0 Studies of the Translation of Huangdi NeijingThe English translation of Huangdi Neijing began in 1925 and there have been twelve officially published English versions. Every version has its advantages and disadvantages. In brief, the translation purposes vary in different historical periods in the process of translating this classic. Its translation mainly undergoes three stages. In the first stage, the primary purpose is to help westerners to understand the outline of Neijing. In t