中医典籍英译质量评价要素的探讨

目的:考察评价者是否理解中医原文对中医经典英译质量评价的影响及读者对中医经典翻译的基本要求。方法:选取黄帝内经中5段经文的Ilza Veith英译本、李照国英译本和课题组英译本,通过调查问卷的方式探讨美国诊所的患者在通晓这五段经文含义的前后对这3个译本的评价,并用同样的方法考察他们对中医经典英译的基本要求。结果:被调查者在通晓原文含义前后对译文的评价差别悬殊。绝大多数被调查者认为中医经典著作的英译本不仅需要英语语言流畅,更需要知识信息准确。结论:在中医经典译文质量评价的研究中,问卷调查对象对原文的理解直接影响调查研究的结果。因此,这种研究必须在调查对象通晓原文含义的基础上进行。中医知识信息翻译的准确性和英语水平是评价译文质量的2个基本要素。

Factors of Quality Evaluation of Chinese to English Translation of Chinese Medicine Classics

To text whether evaluators understand original texts may affect their evaluation on the translation of Chinese classics into English, and to investigate readers''requirement on the translation quality of those Classics. Methods:We selected the English versions of 5 passages from Huangdi''s Internal Classic transtalted by Ilza Veith, Li zhaoguo and this research group, and the Ehglish versions were evaluated twice by the patients in a clinic of the United States by means of questionnaires, once before they fully understood the meaning of original texts and once after. And with the same method, the basic requirements for the translation of traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) were investigated. Results:The evaluations on the translations were quite different before and after the patients understood the original texts. The vast majority of respondents believed that the English translation of Chinese classics not only required to be fluent in language, but also required to be accurate on information. Conclusion:In the study of the quality evaluation of TCM translation, whether the evaluators fully understand the original text directly affects evaluation results. The evaluators shall not evaluate any translations until they fully understand the original texts. Accurate translation of TCM knowledge and English level are the two basic factors to evaluate the quality of the translation.