海外中成药药品名称英译实证研究

An Empirical Study on Implications of International Chinese Patent OTC Name Translation

目的:通过对比中国内地、中国港台地区、新加坡、美国中成药药名的英译策略,找出中成药药名翻译存在的问题并提出改进建议。方法:抽样调查法:在文献研究基础上,以e Bay等跨境中医药销售网站为文本来源,同时收集中成药双语说明书等资料。随机抽取30份样本,对其翻译策略进行统计分析。结果:四地中成药药名翻译策略存在明显差异。结论:建议借鉴国际做法,在拼音音译后增译药品特色,或在传统拼音名称基础上,增译通俗易懂的商品名称。

Objective:To find out problems of Chinese OTC name translation and give suggestions for improvement through a comparative study of the translation strategies for Chinese Patent OTC names in China,Hongkong and Taiwan,Singapore and America.Methods:Statistical sampling investigation method was applied in the study.30 translations of Chinese Patent OTC names were randomly selected as the samples and the translation strategies were analyzed.Results:The translation strategies of Chinese Patent OTC drug names vary from each other among the 4 districts/countries.Conclusion:There should be two English names for a Chinese Patent OTC drug:traditional name and trade name,or the transliteration through pinyin should be added with creative translation on the characteristics of the drug.