Lele Gao, Ya Liu

Ya Liu

27 Feb. 2023

Thick translation, Treatise on Cold Pathogenic Diseases, Culture-loaded words.

TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) culture-loaded words are the concentrated embodiment of TCM culture and the key to the western readers' understanding and learning of TCM knowledge. The cultural genes contained in TCM culture-loaded words determine that the translation of these words is essentially the translation of TCM culture. Thick translation applies the methods of deep contextualization to create a web of internal and external cultural information of the source text, which reproduces the cultural and linguistic situation of the source text, and can help the target readers perceive the hidden cultural connotation. In this paper, Wiseman version, Luo Xiwen version and Greta yang version are selected as examples to explore the translation of culture-loaded words in the categories of "TCM disease pattern", "TCM symptom", "cause and mechanism of disease", "philosophy" and "other TCM terms" from the perspective of thick translation. Deep context avoids the misunderstanding or misinterpretation caused by the inclusion of the original text into the thinking set and cultural presupposition of local culture due to the language conversion. It is helpful for western readers to correctly understand the cultural connotation of TCM, and generate recognition, understanding and respect for TCM culture.

© 2023, the Authors. Published by ISCCAC

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