ON THE ISSUE OF TRANSLATING ENGLISH AND CHINESE MEDICAL DISCOURSE

Abstract

The novelty of the research is determined by the translation techniques
and devices analysis in the paradigm of the communicative and functional approach to
translation. The object of the research is English and Chinese medical discourse in the
aspect of its translation. The subject of the research is represented by the arsenal of
translation techniques and devices applied. The research was performed on the basis of
the recommendations on in vitro COVID-19 testing both in English and Chinese. The
objective of the research was formulated as the analysis of the English and Chinese
medical texts with the focus on the terms. As far as the distinctive lexical linguistic
features are concerned, the experimental analysis has revealed the predominance of
terms over general vocabulary units in the English medical texts. Moreover, the
translator’s background knowledge comprises linguistic competence in the various
fields of knowledge, such as IT, physics, statistics and others. Another challenge of
medical translation is the high content of international lexis both in diachrony and
synchrony. Among the grammatical peculiarities of the Chinese medical discourse
there are various grammatical constructions, types of complex and compound
sentences, parenthetical words and expressions, aimed at foregrounding the most
relevant information. Grammatical constructions, coined according to the requirements
of the written language wenyan, stereotypical word combinations, 3d person narration
as well as the absence of personal addresses contribute to the similarity with scientific
discourse.