Research on the Translation Mode of Chinese Health-keeping Culture with Lasswell's 5w Communication Model

Dong Zhen Zhao Bairu Sui Chunying

Abstract： Chinese health-keeping culture is one of the important parts in Chinese culture，  reflecting the important characteristics and core values of Chinese culture. With the continuous enrichment and development， the cross-cultural communication of Chinese health preserving culture has become an inevitable trend. Based on Lasswell's 5w communication model， this article combines the study of communication and literature translation together， and tries to analyze the translation mode of Chinese health-keeping culture from five aspects， that are translators， medio-translatology subject， medio-translatology channel， target readers， and medio-translatology effect. These five factors are supplementary and inseparable to each other. Only to set the medio-translatology effect as the final goal， the specific and detailed studies to translators and some other factors can achieve the ideal effect. This study is aimed at promoting the sustainable development of Chinese health-keeping culture and improving the progress of the related industries， and is also of great significance in shaping the national image and enhancing the national soft power.

Key words： Chinese health-keeping culture; Translation mode; Cross-cultural communication

1.Necessities of cross-cultural communication on Chinese health-keeping culture

Health maintenance （yang sheng）， a term originated form Guan Zi， is the maintenance of life to achieve the meaning of longevity. In the long history of human development， health and longevity are always good wishes people yearning and pursuing of. In recent years， with the rapid development of social economy， people's life quality is greatly improved. So more and more people begin to pay close attention to preserve their own health， improve the quality of life and  pursuit of self-restraint. Thus with constantly enriching and developing， culture of health preserving spreads all over the world. Compared with other parts' health-keeping cultures among the whole world， Chinese health preservation is very extensive and profound because of its basic backgrounds， that are the theory and practice of ancient Chinese philosophy and traditional Chinese medicine. Chinese health preservation is the collection of many methods about disease prevention and fitness from the working people in the past dynasties of our country， which incorporates the essence of Confucianism， Taoism， Buddhism and plenty of ancient philosophers. The content of Chinese health-keeping culture is extremely rich， and almost covers all the factors of the Chinese culture， and is really the important cultural resources and precious heritage in China.

Overseas communication of Chinese health-keeping culture is not only beneficial to show the advantages of its preventive treatment of disease， but useful in pushing forward health industries and promoting its sustainable development as well. More importantly， it is good to use its rich cultural resources to play the role of developing a strong culture and creating the image of great powers. At present， there are much more domestic studies on Chinese health keeping culture， but fewer researches related to its overseas communication， which shows us the urgency and importance of its communication internationally.

2.Lasswell's 5w Communication Model and literary translation

Lasswell's 5w communication model is put forward by an American political scientist Lasswell in his book The Structure and Function of Social Communication. In this book， five basic elements of communication process are expounded for the first time， including who， what， to whom， in which channel， with what effect. Among which， the first step who refers to the communicator who are responsible for the tasks of information collection， information processing and transmission in the process of communication; what refers to the communication content， is a group of information composed of meaningful symbols， including language symbols and non-linguistic symbols; to whom refers to the audiences， is the ultimate object and destination of communication; in which channel is the intermediary or material carrier that information must pass through; with what effect refers to the cognitive， emotional and behavioral reactions after information reaches the audience， is also an important measure to inspect the success of communication activities.

Literary translation is an important way of promoting the cultural communication. Applying Lasswell's 5w communication model into literature or cultural translation is one of the important methods in studying communication， which contains translators， medio-translatology subject， medio-translatology channel， target readers， and medio-translatology effect of the five elements in translation mode.

3. Study on translation mode of Chinese health-keeping culture

The translation mode of Chinese health preservation mainly includes five aspects， that is  translators， medio-translatology subject， medio-translatology channel， target readers， and medio-translatology effect. All the factors have close relationship and supplement each other.

3.1 Translators—who

Translators in the communication of different cultures are the initiator of translation， which can be either press and publication administration， press and some other organizations， or individual translators. During the cross-cultural communication， readers' recognition of the translators and acceptance to translation scripts are particularly important. The higher the visibility， credibility and recognition the translators have， the better medio-translatology effect will be. Thus it is one of the decisive elements that influence the whole translations under the background of Chinese culture's going out .

For a long time， tasks of translating Chinese health keeping culture fall to the duty of Chinese native translators. However， local translators'lack of comprehending for target countries' culture， readers' reading habits and publishing markets have seriously influenced the foreign readers' understanding to Chinese culture of health preserving. And foreign audiences always cannot fully understand all the contents of Chinese health preserving culture because of the cultural differences and some other factors. So， for overseas communication of Chinese health keeping culture， the united translation by translators at home and abroad is a necessary method to be encouraged. At the same time， if possible， foreign translators can be encouraged to experience parts of content from Chinese health preserving culture in order to deepen their cognition of Chinese health keeping culture. For example， ways of health keeping through Chinese tea ceremony and traditional Chinese medicine are all good choices to improve translators' understandings.

3.2 Medio-translatology subject—what

Medio-translatology subject refers to the problem about what to be translated， including choices of original author， works and translation strategies. Medio-translatology subject directly determine the ultimate propagation and actual influence about finished translations. To choose medio-translatology subject and translate text successful will get the favour of readers. On the contrary， there will be bad transmission effects.

Because of the rich medio-translatology subject related to Chinese health preserving culture， to achieve the purpose of cross-cultural communication， the content of health cultural translation should meet at least two factors. One is universal， means it is easy for foreign audience to accept; the other is unique， means the content itself should also have representative characteristics of Chinese health-keeping methods. So it is quite necessary to consider again and again in choosing medio-translatology subject. For example， culture of drinking tea and pursuing tea culture， using traditional Chinese medicine in Chinese health preservation is very popular among the target audiences， so tasks of translation can focus on these similar contents. Meanwhile， to strengthen medio-translatology subjects which are closely related to Chinese features such as practising calligraphy， being meditative and so on， comparative studies between the cultural commonalities and differences are really good ways to choose. For example， it is good to try to translate similar symbols of health-keeping cultures that both cultures and audiences are easier to accept， like Tai Chi in exercise regimen.

3.3 Medio-translatology channel—in which channel

Medio-translatology channel shows us the specific channels during the cultural communication. The number of communication channels determines how likely the audience is to have access to the text information of the source country within a certain time range. And the higher the contact frequency and the longer the time is， the better to understand the transmission of cultural information. So， for the overseas communication of China's health preserving cultures， the more target readers contact， the higher frequency and the longer the time of translation has， the better the medio-translatology effect will be.

Over the years， the medio-translatology channels of Chinese health-keeping culture communicating overseas is much more unitary， mainly including book fair， foreign exchange， website heralded etc. But the choice of translation approach about Chinese health preserving culture should not be limited to the traditional translation approaches. Some new media， multimedia， and convergence media should be integrated into translation. Such as communications with the help of Facebook， Twitter， Blog， SNS， webcasts， TikTok， Bilibili and some other multiple platforms to translate， and communicate overseas with the help of Confucius institute all over the world， and some cultural experience related to tourism .

3.4 Target readers—to whom

Target readers is the target of the translation， is to accept and feedback the the medio-translatology subject， and is also the end and object of communication activities. Only to deeply understand and study on target readers， and adjust the medio-translatology subject， can communication strategy be improved effectively.

The study on target readers of China health keeping culture can be combined with the content of translation. In translation process， target readers can be stratified and then investigated， so as to determine the feasible medio-translatology subject and channels. For example， lots of young people in foreign countries are interested more in ways of healthy preserving by sports and music. So the communicative content can be translated and transmitted through micro-video or live broadcast on the website platforms preferred by young people. And also， quite a number of target readers still feel puzzled by the scientific nature for parts of Chinese health preserving cultures， so choosing translation content about scientific nature to elaborate and translate can be targeted in the overseas communication of Chinese health keeping culture.

3.5 Medio-translatology effect—with what effect

Communication effect is reflected by the audience's acceptance of communication content. Only when the audiences accept the communication content， then communication can be effective and truly complete during the whole process. If the translation works are not accepted by the audience， then the purpose and effect of communication can not be achieved.

At present， target reader's understandings to Chinese health culture still have many problems， such as the above mentioned questions to scientific nature， prejudice against parts of Chinese herbs in traditional Chinese medicine and so on. All of these facts show us that the medio-translatology effect have not reached the ideal state. Only to choose translators， medio-translatology subject and channels scientifically， and have an in-depth understanding about translation audiences， can better medio-translatology effect be achieved. In the  sports keeping in good health in China， for example， the medio-translatology effect of taijiquan in Chinese culture is quite successful. As we can see first that most of target readers agree with the importance of exercise to bodies， which provides the common symbols in communication; Second， the early Chinese martial arts star Bruce lee， modern star Jackie chan， Jet li and so on are widely accepted by the target readers. Chinese kung fu and tai chi have appeared in Kung Fu Panda and some other films and TV series， which are the success of translation approach， and are also the results of selecting correct medio-translatology subject and route based on the well understanding of the importance of exercises to target cultures;  Moreover， in the perspective of target reader， a cultural bias once talked about that lots of foreign people think that every Chinese have better understanding about kung fu and tai chi. This is clearly a cultural stereotype， but to some extent， it is visible to see that lots of foreigners are curious about and interested in Chinese exercise regimen. No wonder the medio-translatology effect in this part is very good.

4. Summary

The overseas communication of Chinese health preserving culture can not only play the advantages of its preventative treatment of disease， and improve China's international status and expand the national influence， conform to the trend of globalization. According to Lasswell's 5w communication model， this article studies the translation mode from five aspects， that are translators， medio-translatology subject， medio-translatology channel， target readers， and medio-translatology effect. Only to set the translation effect as the final goal， the specific and detailed studies and analyses to translators and some other factors are meaningful and can achieve the ideal effect.

Reference

[1]Harold Lasswell. The Structure and Function of Social Communication[M]. Beijing： Communication University of China press，2013.

[2]Chen Jirong. Translating and Constructing the Image of Contemporary China[M]. Beijing：

China social sciences press， 2012.

[3]Jieun Kiaer.Translation and Literature in East Asia[M]. New York： Routledge， 2019.

[4]Medougall， Bonnie. Literary Translation： The Pleasure Principle[J]. Chinese Translators Journal， 2007.

About the Author：

Dongzhen（1988—）， female， lecture， work in Shaanxi Institute of International Trade and Commerce， study on cross-culture communication.

Zhao Bairu（1978—）， female， lecture， work in Shaanxi Institute of International Trade and Commerce， study on translation.

Sui Chunying （1985— ）， female， lecture， work in Shaanxi Institute of International Trade and Commerce， study on translation.