TY - JOUR
T1 - Chinese-English medical translation informed by findings from contrastive linguistics and discourse analysis
AU - Bing, Pierce
AU - Hlavac, Jim
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - The volume of technical, scientific, and academic texts translated between Chinese and English is considerable, and this volume will likely continue to increase. This paper examines Chinese and English medical research articles in both languages and provides an empirically-based examination of select syntactic and discourse-based features. Specifically, this paper focuses on characteristic features of the genre of pharmaceutical research articles in both Chinese and English: verb forms, voice and authorial positionality. Examination of the statistical frequency of the following is undertaken: verb forms (via either finite tense or ‘overt’ tense marking); grammatical voice (active vs passive); and authorial positionality (use of personal pronouns, full-form nouns, or impersonal constructions). By examining the statistical frequency of each of these in asample of eight research articles across both languages, this paper offers a practice-based guide to the translation of medical research papers via findings from contrastive linguistics and discourse analysis. These findings may inform specialists as well as trainee translators working in either language direction.
AB - The volume of technical, scientific, and academic texts translated between Chinese and English is considerable, and this volume will likely continue to increase. This paper examines Chinese and English medical research articles in both languages and provides an empirically-based examination of select syntactic and discourse-based features. Specifically, this paper focuses on characteristic features of the genre of pharmaceutical research articles in both Chinese and English: verb forms, voice and authorial positionality. Examination of the statistical frequency of the following is undertaken: verb forms (via either finite tense or ‘overt’ tense marking); grammatical voice (active vs passive); and authorial positionality (use of personal pronouns, full-form nouns, or impersonal constructions). By examining the statistical frequency of each of these in asample of eight research articles across both languages, this paper offers a practice-based guide to the translation of medical research papers via findings from contrastive linguistics and discourse analysis. These findings may inform specialists as well as trainee translators working in either language direction.
KW - translation and interpreting practice
KW - technical translation
KW - scientific translation
KW - academic translation
KW - pharmaceutical research papers
UR - https://d-nb.info/1314135589
M3 - Article
SN - 1867-4844
VL - 16
SP - 395
EP - 424
JO - trans-kom
JF - trans-kom
IS - 2
M1 - 11
ER -