基于受众视角的气功术语英译调查研究

Investigation on the English Translation of Qigong Terms from the Perspective of Readers' Response

目的调查受众对中医气功术语不同英译版本译文的接受情况和翻译方法倾向,总结现状与问题并提出相关对应策略,为中医气功术语英译提供建议和参考。方法采用文献分析法整理《中医气功学》双语教材、《中医气功常用术语辞典(英汉双解)》和《健身气功常用词汇手册(英文版)》中的中医气功术语并进行分类,以北京中医药大学的留学生、英语专业学生以及具有中医气功相关学习背景的中国医学生为研究对象,对三类学生展开问卷调查,数据统计与分析采用Excel进行描述性统计分析。结果英语专业学生与中国医学生对普通术语不同英译版本译文的选择无明显倾向性,但在对其它类别术语翻译版本的选择上倾向较为一致。留学生对中医气功术语英译的接受理解情况与中国学生之间存在差别,在翻译方法倾向上无明显差别。结论中医气功术语文字精简、表达多用隐喻,翻译困难重重。翻译中医气功术语时,应先找出术语核心意义的对应词,对于核心涵义以外的其它内容可以在译出核心词涵义的基础上根据术语在文本中所作的成分来选择翻译方法以及翻译形式从而完善译文。

Objective To investigate readers＇ acceptance of different versions of English translation of traditional Chinese medicine Qigong terms and their preferenees in translation methods, and to put forward coping strategies in order to provide advice and reference for the translation of TCM Qigong terms. Methods The investigation was carried out by means of literature analysis and questionnaires. Relevant terms were selected from three books including The Science of Chinese Medical Qigong, Dictionary of Common Qigong Glossary （English-Chinese） and Common Health Qigong Terms and further classified into different categories. Questionnaires were carried out with three groups of students in Beijing University of Chinese Medicine： English major, Chinese medical students with certain knowledge of Qigong and overseas students. Data were collected and then analyzed by using Excel for a descriptive analysis. Results English majors and Chinese medical students with certain knowledge of Qigong had no obvious preferences over different versions of English translation of ordinary TCM Qigong terms, but they displayed similar preferences in other classified terms. There were discrepancies between overseas students and Chinese students in terms of acceptance of different versions of English translation of TCM Qigong terms, but no marked difference in terms of translation methods. Conclusion Due to its great conciseness and implicit metaphors, there were a lot of difficulties in the translation of TCM Qigong terms. One possible solution is to figure out the corresponding translation of the core of the terms first and then on this basis, the translation of the other meanings contained in the term can be translated according to the context so as to modify the whole translation.