Medical Dialogue

医学会话

Introduction to This Book
本书的介绍

Ms. Joanna Davis is an acupuncturist and reporter for Acupuncture Today. She is interviewing Dr, Ming Liu, the coauthor for the book, Medical English for TCM.

ms. davis:	Congratulations, Dr. Liu, on the publication of your textbook, Medical English for Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), by Fudan University Publishing House.
dr. liu:	Thank you, Ms. Davis. It was great working with Fudan University. They are very professional and knowledgeable and were pivotal* in helping us to create a high-quality final version of this text. We learned a lot from them.
ms. davis:	Dr. Liu, this book is different from the other English texts on TCM in that this is a bilingual text of English and Mandarin. Who is your target audience?
dr. liu:	This book is mainly for Chinese students to learn medical English, and for TCM doctors who teach English speaking students. It is a textbook that our medical students can use in their Foundations of Chinese Medicine classes. Our doctors are likely to use it as a reference for teaching TCM in China. And if they plan to practice Chinese medicine abroad and teach, this book will prove invaluable.
ms. davis:	You have practiced in the States, is that correct?
dr. liu:	I did for a long time and now I teach medical English in China. Dr. Jason Hao, my partner with this book, has been teaching and practicing in the U.S. for 24 years. Many of the people who participated in this book are professors and TCM practitioners in the U.S.
ms. davis:	How long did it take to finish the book?
dr. liu:	It took us nearly two years to finish it.
ms. davis:	How did you choose to translate the terminology in your book?
dr. liu:	The terminology used in our book generally follows translation guidelines from the World Health Organization, World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies, Paradigm Online TCM Dictionary, and from well-known English textbooks of TCM used in the West.
ms. davis:	Which English books of TCM did you reference?
dr. liu:	We consulted more than twenty books. To name a few, we used terms from Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion, commonly referred to as the CAM, Acupuncture, A Comprehensive Text published by Eastland press, The Foundations of Chinese Medicine and The Practice of Chinese Medicine by Giovanni Maciocia, Materia Medica and Chinese Herbal Medicine Formulas and Strategies by Dan Bensky.
ms. davis:	Do you feel it is difficult to translate TCM terms into English? Or did you and Dr. Hao have an advantage because you speak English and have practiced in the U.S. for many years?
dr. liu:	Even with our "advantage", it was still extremely difficult because there are so many acceptable solutions. Even for one simple term, there are many versions of translation into English. We made the choice of translating almost all Chinese terms into English except for a few, such as yin, yang, qi, and cun in pinyin.
ms. davis:	I've read that what has allowed Chinese medicine to be taught to foreigners and to integrate so well with the Western model is the presentation of TCM in scientific terms. How "scientific" is your text? Do you equate Chinese medical concepts with Western biomedical* terms?
dr. liu:	Our medical students and doctors here in China are trained in both Chinese medicine and Western biomedicine. They are not incompatible. We want to make sure that while our students and doctors speak different languages from their Western colleagues, we can still speak on the subjects of Chinese medicine. We are familiar with the technical terms in biomedicine, but we also want to convey the form and meaning of Chinese medicine as accurately as possible.
ms. davis:	Is it easier to keep most terms in pinyin?
dr. liu:	Leaving Chinese terms in pinyin is the easiest option but this is not ideal because it is very difficult for foreigners to remember pinyin. We did keep yin, yang, and qi in pinyin because those terms have such a wide range of meanings in Chinese. There is no English equivalent that even comes close.
ms. davis:	In addition, a single pinyin word can often have more than one meaning.
dr. liu:	You are right. Shen is an example that can mean either "kidney" or "spirit". Actually, most medical terms in TCM come from several language sources but they can be translated into everyday English words. The pinyin "xu", for example, is translated to "deficiency", and "shi" means "excess".
ms. davis:	How much did you use terms from biomedicine in your translation?
dr. liu:	We use them as much as possible. However, the concept of heart in TCM is very different from its understanding in Western medicine. In TCM, this word includes not only a heart organ, but its functional activity which includes the functions of the central nervous system as understood in Western medicine. In fact, TCM terms quite often combine English with biomedical terminology and pinyin. Take the pattern of liver qi stagnation, for example. Here is "liver" from biomedicine, "qi" from pinyin, and "stagnation" from common English.
ms. davis:	Oh, yes. I see. Well, thank you very much. I wish you and Dr. Hao the best.
dr. liu:	Thank you, Ms. Davis. It is my pleasure.