Review and Insight on English Translation of Chinese Medical Classics Shang Han Lun

摘要

The English edition of classics of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is a vital carrier of disseminating traditional Chinese medicine culture. This article summarizes the difficulties and problems with respect to the English translation of Shang Han Lun by reviewing its translation history and by analyzing different translation editions, and holds that the difficulties are caused by unique linguistic characteristics of Shang Han Lun, lack of standardization in TCM terms and vacant counterpart of culture-loaded words in the target language, the problems arising from frequently used western medicine terms and the translator's subjectivity. The authors holds the idea that considerable attention should be paid to translators' knowledge of TCM and normalization of TCM terms for the sake of accurately understanding and elucidating the medical culture in Shang Han Lun.