About me and why I started this group

kelinsheng
 December 08, 2008, 12:19 AM posted in General Discussion

Hello everyone, my name is KeLinSheng (柯临圣). It's a name my professor gave me.

I've been trying to study the Yellow Emperor's Cannon of Medicine for quite sometime now and there doesn't seem to be any sort of standard English terms portraying certain ideas in Chinese medicine. I think this is largely due to the fact that these ideas are "new" to the west and the English language. I also think that it is because native English speaking experts in the field of Chinese medicine have not collaboratively agreed upon standard terms. Not only that, but texts like the Yellow Emperor’s Canon of Medicine are written in an ancient language, so I imagine it would be similar to translating Shakespeare into Chinese.

I have a copy of a native English speaker's translation (of the Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Medicine) and a copy of a native Chinese speaker's translation, and they contradict each other and use different English terminologies. The Chinese speaker’s version tends to use outdated medical terms and the native English speaker’s version leaves out important details. So when I read one translation, and then read the other, I became flummoxed. It was then that I decided that I needed to learn Chinese to fully understand and practice Chinese medicine.

Also, I will be going to the Chengdu University of TCM in February to intern at their hospital, so I will also need to learn as much as I can about communicating about different ailments.

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bababardwan
 December 08, 2008, 12:33 AM

Kelinsheng

Great idea for a group.I'd love to hear some excerpts from the Yellow Emperor's Cannon of Medicine.Good luck with your studies :)

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baishu
 June 28, 2009, 01:40 AM

hello everyone

I'm interested in a group interested in TCM. I'm expecting more discussions. Besides acupuncture itself, I want to know how the western people think of it. Is acupuncture in Canada a place on the other side of the Pacific also popular?

I know a little about the Yellow Emperor's Cannon of Medicine. It's very elusive for even most Chinese. Maybe the first step to grasp the sense is to recite that book as the Chinese students do.

baishu

 

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kelinsheng
 August 04, 2009, 01:02 AM

Hello baishu,

In Canada, not too many people know about Chinese medicine so they are often afriad to try it and they are very skeptical about it, but they are still very curious.  It is becoming more mainstream especially where I am from.  The government will even subsidize acupuncture treatments, to a certain extent, for people that can not afford it.

I think it is funny that native Chinese tell me to recite the book.  I do not understand the language yet.  So if I recite the book without understanding what is being said, it's just like listening to a bunch of cars honking their horns.  It's only noise and noise that isn't interesting or fun to listen to.

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baishu
 August 04, 2009, 06:19 PM

Hello Kelinsheng,

I did not mean to advise you to recite that book. That is a really tough job and is not necessary for most of learners. 

You make me think of some things a few years ago. There was a former national football player of Iran.  He did not run much, but his free kick was still good. He came to my college to study accupuncture at the age of about 50. And there was a japanese girl also coming to study Chinese medicine, she is beautiful and many times she sat just beside me in class. I also remenber a woman, but I known little about her. At that time, almost every sunday morning I, standing by the window in half-time break of my long weekend sleep, saw her in good spirits walking on the stadium with a mp3 tied on her arm. Two years ago, I came back the school to meet a friend, I run across her. she was still in good spirits with a set of headphone walking on the stadium. At that time what I was thinking is: yes, it is Sunday.

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dedsall78
 August 30, 2009, 02:48 AM

Yes, when I studied some classics back at my university, I found similar things regarding translations.  The one I remember the most is the Nei Jing...

We had three different translations.  One was done by a linguist well versed in Ancient Chinese, the other was done by an English speaking Chinese doctor, and I'm not sure about the third.

You'd think that the Chinese doctor's would be the best.  And, when I started reading it, I thought that it was as it made more sense than the other two. However, oddly enough, I came to realize that the Chinese doctor was simply "translating" what he thought it was saying.  Sometimes he would just add in details that neither of the other two translations had.  When you consider that one was an expert on Ancient Chinese, it makes you wonder.

This is one of the reasons that I really want to master Chinese well.  Many books have not been translated and, of those that have, it seems that the translators did not always do a good job.