confusing term choice

[Guest guest]

I recently received a review of materia medica written by someone with

almost 30 years of experience in our field. While informative in

some ways, the term choices used can be confusing. The guide is designed

for beginning students and was sent to me because I teach materia medica.

For example, the herbs sheng ma and bo he are described to "alleviate skin

eruptions". While I know what these herbs do, I think the use of

the term alleviate is very misleading. These herbs cause unsurfaced

rashes to express themselves and will alleviate a particular kind of rash

when the treatment principle calls for their use. However, they may

worsen some types of chronic dermatitis, IMO. By using the term of

his choice rather than a standard term, the reader is at the writer's mercy

to figure out the meaning of this expression and the simple connotation

based upon one's use of English in common speech may easily lead one astray

clinically. Which brings up a key issue here. Just because

experienced practitioners who have given long consideration to terms and

meanings feel comfortable with a literary or connotative rendering does

not mean that a new student will find the same transparency. Perhaps

that is the crux of this discussion. I have no doubt that Alon understands

the meaning of tong. I am more concerned with how to teach my students

about something that is new or foreign. My method usually includes

a discussion of a number of translation term choices PLUS a definition

of the chinese term itself.

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[Guest guest]

However, they may worsen some types of chronic dermatitis, IMO. By using the term of his choice rather than a standard term, the reader is at the writer's mercy to figure out the meaning of this expression and the simple connotation based upon one's use of English in common speech may easily lead one astray clinically.

>>>Are you sure he does not mean that at least in his experience of 30 years they do "alleviate skin eruptions". I have not seen the book but I know of many highly revered Dr in China that often use herbs in ways that contradict TCM theories and have also heard Shen's saying book wrong.

Alon

 

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