Ways to translate medical terms into Chinese

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

The article analyzes the five most commonly used translation methods: transcription, mixed method (transcription and semantic method), semantic method, semantic method with addition of meanings and semantic method with abbreviations. The subject of the article is the translation of the names of foreign medicines in advertising into Chinese. The purpose of the article is to analyze strategies for translating the names of medicines into Chinese in advertising, as well as to identify the most frequent and popular translation methods. The article analyzes the names of foreign medicines (70 names of medicines) and their translation into Chinese. By comparing the frequency of use of each method, the most frequent method is identified when translating foreign drug names into Chinese. In the course of the research, the following methods were used: descriptive method, method of analysis of theoretical literature, as well as methods of systematization and classification of material. The novelty of the study lies in the fact that, to date, the translation of the names of medical terms has not yet been considered within the framework of the theory of translation equivalence. The practical significance of this article lies in the fact that the results of the study can contribute to the further strengthening and development of trade and international communication. The article provides examples illustrating ways to translate drug names into Chinese. During the study, it was revealed that when translating medical terms from foreign languages into Chinese, the most frequent methods are transcription and the semantic method. At the same time, the percentage of use of semantic and mixed methods (which include transcription and semantic method) is also high.The percentage of prevalence of using the semantic method with addition of meanings and abbreviations is significantly lower.