Abstract:As we all know that skopos theory is developed from German Functionalism. And skopos theory believes that the translation is a form of translational action based on a source text and the prime principle determining any translation process is the purpose of the overall translational action. 

With the development of export and international ratification of Chinese medicine in international market, more and more western countries choose to believe Chinese medicine. Moreover, Chinese medicine instruction includes the most important information about the medicine and provides a very detailed description of medicine products. This means that a high quality Chinese medicines instruction translations can help more foreign consumers to have a better understanding and the products will eventually promote the quantity of overseas sales. More studies on skopos theory and meanwhile paying more attention to the translation of instructions for Chinese medicine will greatly improve the C-E translation quality of the Chinese medicine instruction as well as the Chinese medicine standardization.

Skopos theory deals with translation of Chinese medicine instructions from some functional approaches. As is known to us, skopos theory is developed from Germany, and it can be used as theoretical basis of Chinese medicine instruction translation. And there is another view that the purpose of Chinese medicine instruction translation determines the translation strategies when translating Chinese medicine instructions for western countries. According to relevant study, skopos theory is divided into two main parts. One part is the previous study on Functionalist Approaches’ review. The other part is the empirical study. According to studies, both of these two research methods have been used in the empirical study. These are linguistic analysis on the instructions and questionnaire. In this thesis, the author points out that skopos theory has made great contribution to translation of Chinese medicine instruction, and many professional scholars put emphasis on the development of skopos theory. Skopos theory can play an active role in solving problems on translation of Chinese medicine instructions. 

Keywords: Skopos theory  Chinese medicine instruction  translation action

Contents

Abstract

摘要

Chapter One Introduction-4

1.1 The Background and Significance of the Study-4

1.2 The Structure of the Thesis-6

Chapter Two Literature Review-7

2.1 Previous Studies on Skopos Theory-7

2.2 Introduction to the Development of Chinese Medicine and Its Translation-8

Chapter Three Translation of Chinese Medicine Instructions with Skopos Theory-10

3.1 Functions of Chinese Medicine Instructions-10

3.2 Analysis on the Translation of Chinese Medicine Instructions Based on Skopos Theory-11

3.2.1 Drug Names-11

3.2.2 Compositions-12

3.2.3 Descriptions-13

3.2.4 Actions and Indications-13

3.3 Translation Strategies for Chinese Medicine Instruction Translation Based on Skopos Theory-14

3.3.1 Transliteration-14

3.3.2 Literal Translation-15

3.3.3 Free Translation-16

Chapter Four Conclusion-17

References-19