A Corpus-Based Comparative Study on Traditional Chinese Medicine Translation of “<i>Hong</i> <i>Lou</i> <i>Meng</i>”

在《红楼梦》英译本中,杨宪益版本与霍克斯版本流传最为广泛。为了使目标语读者更好地理解《红楼梦》中的中医文化,笔者整理了《红楼梦》及两个译本中的中医文化部分,并对其定性建立类目。同时,借助绍兴文理学院《红楼梦》汉英平行语料库进行具体词句搜索,以Peter Newmark的交际与语义翻译理论作为推论的牵引,对两个译本进行对比研究。研究数据揭示,杨译本倾向于从源语言文化的角度出发,还原原文作者的思维过程,在译文的内容与句子结构上更加忠于原文,体现了语义翻译为先的英译策略。而霍译本着重强调目标语读者的感受,针对原文中一些中国文化负载词,进行翻译加注解的英译,例如对“调经养荣丸”、“独参汤”等进行翻译之后再对其进行具体解释,因此霍克斯的译文在句子结构上与原文差异较大,句子通俗易懂,翻译策略以交际翻译为先。二者采用的翻译策略各有其特点,对两种译本进行比较研究,将有助于推动中医文化翻译的标准化进程,使西方读者更好地了解中医文化。In the translation history of “Hong Lou Meng”, Yang Xianyi and Hawkes are the two most widely circulated versions. In order to enable the target language to understand the traditional culture better, the author sorts out the Chinese medicine culture parts in “Hong Lou Meng” and two versions and establishes categories for their characterization. At the same time, with the help of the Chinese-English parallel corpus of “Hong Lou Meng” of Shaoxing University, the specific word and sentence search is carried out, and Peter Newmark’s communicative and semantic translation theory is used as the traction of inference, and the two versions are compared and studied. The research data revealed that the Yang’s Version tends to restore the thinking process of the original author from the perspective of the source language and culture, and retains more Chinese cultural habits, reflecting the English translation strategy of semantic translation first. Hawkes emphasizes the feelings of the target language readers, and carries out English translations with annotations for some Chinese cultural load words in the source text, such as “调经养荣丸”, “独参汤”, etc. and then explains them specifically, so Hawkes’ translation is quite different from the original in sentence structure, and the sentences are more understandable, and his translation strategy puts communicative translation first. The translation strategies adopted by the two have their own advantages and disadvantages, and a comparative study of the two translations will help promote the standardization process of traditional Chinese medicine cultural translation, so that Western readers can better understand traditional Chinese medicine and culture.

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Publication Details

Journal
Modern Linguistics
Published
2025-01-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.12677/ml.2025.136641
Primary Topic
Translation Studies and Practices
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article

A Corpus-Based Comparative Study on Traditional Chinese Medicine Translation of “Hong Lou Meng”

宏岩 时
Modern Linguistics
Translation Studies and Practices
article

A Corpus-Based Comparative Study on Traditional Chinese Medicine Translation of “Hong Lou Meng”

宏岩 时
article en

Abstract

在《红楼梦》英译本中,杨宪益版本与霍克斯版本流传最为广泛。为了使目标语读者更好地理解《红楼梦》中的中医文化,笔者整理了《红楼梦》及两个译本中的中医文化部分,并对其定性建立类目。同时,借助绍兴文理学院《红楼梦》汉英平行语料库进行具体词句搜索,以Peter Newmark的交际与语义翻译理论作为推论的牵引,对两个译本进行对比研究。研究数据揭示,杨译本倾向于从源语言文化的角度出发,还原原文作者的思维过程,在译文的内容与句子结构上更加忠于原文,体现了语义翻译为先的英译策略。而霍译本着重强调目标语读者的感受,针对原文中一些中国文化负载词,进行翻译加注解的英译,例如对“调经养荣丸”、“独参汤”等进行翻译之后再对其进行具体解释,因此霍克斯的译文在句子结构上与原文差异较大,句子通俗易懂,翻译策略以交际翻译为先。二者采用的翻译策略各有其特点,对两种译本进行比较研究,将有助于推动中医文化翻译的标准化进程,使西方读者更好地了解中医文化。In the translation history of “Hong Lou Meng”, Yang Xianyi and Hawkes are the two most widely circulated versions. In order to enable the target language to understand the traditional culture better, the author sorts out the Chinese medicine culture parts in “Hong Lou Meng” and two versions and establishes categories for their characterization. At the same time, with the help of the Chinese-English parallel corpus of “Hong Lou Meng” of Shaoxing University, the specific word and sentence search is carried out, and Peter Newmark’s communicative and semantic translation theory is used as the traction of inference, and the two versions are compared and studied. The research data revealed that the Yang’s Version tends to restore the thinking process of the original author from the perspective of the source language and culture, and retains more Chinese cultural habits, reflecting the English translation strategy of semantic translation first. Hawkes emphasizes the feelings of the target language readers, and carries out English translations with annotations for some Chinese cultural load words in the source text, such as “调经养荣丸”, “独参汤”, etc. and then explains them specifically, so Hawkes’ translation is quite different from the original in sentence structure, and the sentences are more understandable, and his translation strategy puts communicative translation first. The translation strategies adopted by the two have their own advantages and disadvantages, and a comparative study of the two translations will help promote the standardization process of traditional Chinese medicine cultural translation, so that Western readers can better understand traditional Chinese medicine and culture.

Modern LinguisticsVol. 13(06)
Openalex Percentile: Top 81%
Translation Studies and Practices
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A Corpus-Based Comparative Study on Traditional Chinese Medicine Translation of “<i>Hong</i> <i>Lou</i> <i>Meng</i>” — 宏岩 时 · Modern Linguistics (2025) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS