Abstract:

The release of the ICD-11-26 Supplementary Chapter Traditional Medicine Conditions promotes the internationalization of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Due to the limited number of the published terms of diseases, the translation of more TCM disease names still has a lot of work to be done. After the general introduction of “standardization principles and methods for English translation of TCM terminology”, we discuss the application of the seven principles in terms of equivalence, semantic identity, systemicness, conciseness, conventional usage, back-translation and preserving cultural features in translating TCM disease names. We also refine the approaches of the principles from the aspects of the standardization of term components, the use of double-method translation, and the relations between TCM and western medicine in the process of translation. Transliteration can be used for the interdisciplinary components in case of polysemy or semantic vacancy in English while double-method can resolve the conflicts between domestication and foreignization in translating TCM terms. Meanwhile, double-method can promote the dissemination of TCM at academic, cultural, and medical technological levels, and meets the needs of the condition of double-method diagnosis in TCM hospitals in China; and meet the needs of TCM entering the medical insurance system of western countries.

Key words: TCM terminology, English translation, disease name, standadization principle, translation method