医学英语翻译与写作 Medical English Translation and writing 张晶 山东大学大外部

Chapter 1 A General Introduction to Medical English Translation

A General Introduction  The Concept of Translation  The Criteria of Translation  The Process of Translation  The Importance of Medical Translation  The Qualifications for Medical English Translators  Considerations on the History of Western Medical Translation

The Concept of Translation Translation consists in reproducing in the receptor/target language the closest natural equivalent of the source language, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style. —— Eugene Nida ( American translation theorist)

The Concept of Translation  Translation is a kind of linguistic activity, which can express the ideas of the first language accurately and completely with the second language  Translation is both an art and a science.

Medical Translation in China  Translation in China can be traced back about two thousand years ago. The earliest record of medical translation is that of introduction of ancient Indian medicine accompanied with Buddhist Scriptures in Eastern Han Dynasty, which was of worthy influence on Chinese traditional medicine. At the end of Qing Dynasty, foreign missionaries came into China and carried out their policy of mission through spreading of science. A host of books were translated under the cooperation between missionary doctors and Chinese doctors as well as other EST translators.

Nothing can be accomplished without norms or standards

The Criteria of Translation  Yan fu ( 严复）： · Faithfulness/ Accuracy · Expressiveness/Smoothness · Elegance/Popularity Today we still think highly of what Yan Fu said and follow the criteria.

The Criteria of Translation  The translation should be a complete transcript of the ideas of the original work.  The style and manner of writing should be of the same character with that of the original.  The translation should have all the ease of original composition. ——Alexander F. Tytler Essay on the Principles of Translation

The Criteria of EST Translation  On the Criteria of EST translation, Liang Qichao （梁启超） proposed that “translating lies in profound knowledge of specialty”, that is to say, EST translation must take the correctness in scientific meanings as its first requirement. Besides good understanding of special knowledge, Liang also argued that smoothness in words, sentences and whole text is another demand for good EST translation, which can only be met by the complete understanding of the original text.

The Importance of Medical Translation  sense by insight explain in words  Amitabha Buddha ( 梵文英译）

Qualifications for Medical English Translators  Be Proficient in English  Be Proficient in Chinese  Be equipped with the skills and knowledge in medicine

The Qualifications for Medical English Translators  Medicine is a branch of medical science that treats patients solely with the use of drugs, or non-surgically.  Medicine is not only a branch of applied biology, however. it also subsumed many aspects of psychology, sociology, anthropology, and economics.

Considerations on the History of Western Medical Translation  Introduction of medicine from the Western Regions (the Northern and Southern Dynasties) :mainly through translation of Buddhist Scriptures  Introduction of western medicine (the Ming and Qing Dynasties): mainly through medical literature translation  Unification of Medical terms: contributions of western missionaries and Chinese scholars Unification western missionaries

Considerations on the History of Western Medical Translation  gland 腺  hydrocarbon 烃