From TCM to the World: Translating Culture-bound Terms for Global Health Communication

Under a globalization background, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) gets more attention internationally because it is a unique medical system, but its cross-cultural dissemination meets a significant linguistic barrier because the translation of culture-bound terms makes it hard to spread TCM knowledge to Western countries where such concepts do not exist. These terms come from ancient Chinese philosophy and cosmology, and they carry cultural meanings that cannot find direct equivalents in Western medical English. This study examines how to translate such expressions. We explore a youth-led framework that can bridge this gap. Based on Cognitive Linguistics and cross-cultural translation theories, we use a “Three-Level Metaphorical Translation Model” that moves from literal translation to cultural metaphor unpacking and then goes to cognitive annotation, which is relevant to a global audience. The results show that this model helps improve the accuracy. It also improves the cultural resonance of translated terms. We transform abstract concepts like “Spring corresponds to wood” and “liver qi stagnation” into health guidance that can be understood by ordinary people. This study helps understand how systematic translation strategies can support cross-cultural health communication. Also, it provides a practical framework that can be replicated for translating culture-bound terms in TCM.