translation - better Chinese teaching for PhD

[Guest guest]

Karla -

 

Would you like to teach in Los Angeles?

Will

 

 

 

In a message dated 1/16/02 6:33:33 PM Pacific Standard Time, karlarenaud writes:

 

 

After only six 2-hour classes, and with only 30 min per week of at-home study, my students (who started with NO knowledge of Chinese at all):

-could pronounce all sounds properly using pinyin romanization and the four tones

-could write down the proper pinyin when I said words (no mean feat)

-started writing Chinese characters so they would know how to analyze the brushstroke order and the "radical" meaning components of characters so they could use a dictionary

-learned a significant amount of basic medical vocabulary which I arranged around common meaning radicals or themes to facilitate quicker study

-could use 3 common dictionary types (Chinese dictionaries are arranged by radicals or strokes or combinations)

-were introduced to selections from classical texts to see how it's simple and poetic (yet difficult to understand nuances)

[Guest guest]

Any PhD program, even in the scientific fields, much less literature or history, requires demonstrated knowledge of reading ability in AT LEAST one if not two foreign languages related to the field,

>>>>A PhD in chemistry requires a foreign language? Which Scholl. Or do you need German to get a PhD in psychology. Even to certified as an analyst you do not need German

Alon

 

-

Karla Renaud

Wednesday, January 16, 2002 9:45 PM

Re: translation - better Chinese teaching for PhD

Any PhD program, even in the scientific fields, much less literature or history, requires demonstrated knowledge of reading ability in AT LEAST one if not two foreign languages related to the field, ie. a language in which many journals and books in the field are published. Why should our PhD programs be any less stringent in this area than a Chemistry PhD or a History PhD? Are we less dedicated to academic pursuit, less intellectually able, less willing to do the work required? Perhaps so.Most PhD, and even MA programs, offer courses on "field -specific reading knowledge" of foreign languages. One would not become fluent in all aspects of speaking, reading, writing general Chinese, which does take many years as I well know, but would be taught how to READ Chinese that related SPECIFICALLY to . Our PhD programs can surely offer this, but it means NOT using standard Chinese texts and teaching methods. I think the idea of learning Chinese is more overwhelming than the actual study of Chinese.I myself taught a class in Boston this past fall semester on "Medical Chinese Language." I had specific theories on how to teach adults, how the structure of the Chinese language -"the big picture"- could be introduced in the first class, ways to integrate learning vocabulary with learning how to look up characters in a dictionary --which all required writing my own lesson texts!If you gear the teaching correctly, medical Chinese is not that hard to learn and can be made fun.After only six 2-hour classes, and with only 30 min per week of at-home study, my students (who started with NO knowledge of Chinese at all):-could pronounce all sounds properly using pinyin romanization and the four tones-could write down the proper pinyin when I said words (no mean feat)-started writing Chinese characters so they would know how to analyze the brushstroke order and the "radical" meaning components of characters so they could use a dictionary-learned a significant amount of basic medical vocabulary which I arranged around common meaning radicals or themes to facilitate quicker study-could use 3 common dictionary types (Chinese dictionaries are arranged by radicals or strokes or combinations)-were introduced to selections from classical texts to see how it's simple and poetic (yet difficult to understand nuances)At the last class of the 12 hours I tested them with a page of Chinese character phrases they had never seen and must translate by using a dictionary. Many of these involved looking up only one character, because they had already learned most of the vocabulary and could guess what the phrase might be. These included: liver fire flaring upward, phlegm confounding the heart orifices, liver wind stirring internally, ascendant counterflow stomach qi, depressive liver qi, moisten the lungs, dampheat pouring down through the intestines, etc.These are the necessary building blocks. Grammar in Chinese is easy, practically nonexistent.Next, they should learn some of the modern medical terms that are often seen in literature from China, as the use of terms from allopathic medicine is common in China. Although a lot of vocabulary like endometriosis, psoriasis, etc can be found in a dictionary easily.I know well the type of Chinese language courses that are usually offered, and they are not useful for adult learners who want to quickly learn Chinese in a specific field. Flaws' book and the new book from Paradigm/Red wing are useful texts for that purpose, but it is hard for many people to learn any language without a teacher, especially without being able to pronounce the words they see. Our aural/visual abilities are closely linked in language learning.Our PhD programs should have a language requirement, and in our field, naturally Chinese would be the logical language. If one could already demonstrate knowledge of other relevant languages like Japanese or Korean, that should also fulfill the requirements. It would be great to have people in our field who could translate material from Japan, Korea, or Vietnam and we should reward them. If learning field-specific medical Chinese were still too much of a burden, perhaps French or German could be required at schools that are not so committed to academic excellence, since there is some literature in our field coming out of those countries.As an aside, I'd be interested in communicating privately with anyone on this list who has taught Chinese courses for acupuncturists/herbalists, to compare strategies and materials. It would be great if we could start developing specific teaching methods and course materials to share that would become standard for our PhD programs. karlarenaudKarla RenaudChinese Herbal Medicine, a voluntary organization of licensed healthcare practitioners, matriculated students and postgraduate academics specializing in Chinese Herbal Medicine, provides a variety of professional services, including board approved online continuing education.

[Guest guest]

Our PhD programs should have a language requirement,

>>>Why should a medical degree be a PhD.

Alon

 

-

Karla Renaud

Wednesday, January 16, 2002 9:45 PM

Re: translation - better Chinese teaching for PhD

Any PhD program, even in the scientific fields, much less literature or history, requires demonstrated knowledge of reading ability in AT LEAST one if not two foreign languages related to the field, ie. a language in which many journals and books in the field are published. Why should our PhD programs be any less stringent in this area than a Chemistry PhD or a History PhD? Are we less dedicated to academic pursuit, less intellectually able, less willing to do the work required? Perhaps so.Most PhD, and even MA programs, offer courses on "field -specific reading knowledge" of foreign languages. One would not become fluent in all aspects of speaking, reading, writing general Chinese, which does take many years as I well know, but would be taught how to READ Chinese that related SPECIFICALLY to . Our PhD programs can surely offer this, but it means NOT using standard Chinese texts and teaching methods. I think the idea of learning Chinese is more overwhelming than the actual study of Chinese.I myself taught a class in Boston this past fall semester on "Medical Chinese Language." I had specific theories on how to teach adults, how the structure of the Chinese language -"the big picture"- could be introduced in the first class, ways to integrate learning vocabulary with learning how to look up characters in a dictionary --which all required writing my own lesson texts!If you gear the teaching correctly, medical Chinese is not that hard to learn and can be made fun.After only six 2-hour classes, and with only 30 min per week of at-home study, my students (who started with NO knowledge of Chinese at all):-could pronounce all sounds properly using pinyin romanization and the four tones-could write down the proper pinyin when I said words (no mean feat)-started writing Chinese characters so they would know how to analyze the brushstroke order and the "radical" meaning components of characters so they could use a dictionary-learned a significant amount of basic medical vocabulary which I arranged around common meaning radicals or themes to facilitate quicker study-could use 3 common dictionary types (Chinese dictionaries are arranged by radicals or strokes or combinations)-were introduced to selections from classical texts to see how it's simple and poetic (yet difficult to understand nuances)At the last class of the 12 hours I tested them with a page of Chinese character phrases they had never seen and must translate by using a dictionary. Many of these involved looking up only one character, because they had already learned most of the vocabulary and could guess what the phrase might be. These included: liver fire flaring upward, phlegm confounding the heart orifices, liver wind stirring internally, ascendant counterflow stomach qi, depressive liver qi, moisten the lungs, dampheat pouring down through the intestines, etc.These are the necessary building blocks. Grammar in Chinese is easy, practically nonexistent.Next, they should learn some of the modern medical terms that are often seen in literature from China, as the use of terms from allopathic medicine is common in China. Although a lot of vocabulary like endometriosis, psoriasis, etc can be found in a dictionary easily.I know well the type of Chinese language courses that are usually offered, and they are not useful for adult learners who want to quickly learn Chinese in a specific field. Flaws' book and the new book from Paradigm/Red wing are useful texts for that purpose, but it is hard for many people to learn any language without a teacher, especially without being able to pronounce the words they see. Our aural/visual abilities are closely linked in language learning.Our PhD programs should have a language requirement, and in our field, naturally Chinese would be the logical language. If one could already demonstrate knowledge of other relevant languages like Japanese or Korean, that should also fulfill the requirements. It would be great to have people in our field who could translate material from Japan, Korea, or Vietnam and we should reward them. If learning field-specific medical Chinese were still too much of a burden, perhaps French or German could be required at schools that are not so committed to academic excellence, since there is some literature in our field coming out of those countries.As an aside, I'd be interested in communicating privately with anyone on this list who has taught Chinese courses for acupuncturists/herbalists, to compare strategies and materials. It would be great if we could start developing specific teaching methods and course materials to share that would become standard for our PhD programs. karlarenaudKarla RenaudChinese Herbal Medicine, a voluntary organization of licensed healthcare practitioners, matriculated students and postgraduate academics specializing in Chinese Herbal Medicine, provides a variety of professional services, including board approved online continuing education.

[Guest guest]

Karla,

 

Very interesting to read your experience

teaching medical Chinese.

 

Can you get in touch with me at

<editor_caom?

 

Ken

[Guest guest]

Any PhD program, even in the scientific fields, much less literature or

history, requires demonstrated knowledge of reading ability in AT LEAST one

if not two foreign languages related to the field, ie. a language in which

many journals and books in the field are published. Why should our PhD

programs be any less stringent in this area than a Chemistry PhD or a

History PhD? Are we less dedicated to academic pursuit, less

intellectually able, less willing to do the work required? Perhaps so.

 

Most PhD, and even MA programs, offer courses on " field -specific reading

knowledge " of foreign languages. One would not become fluent in all aspects

of speaking, reading, writing general Chinese, which does take many years

as I well know, but would be taught how to READ Chinese that related

SPECIFICALLY to . Our PhD programs can surely offer this,

but it means NOT using standard Chinese texts and teaching methods. I

think the idea of learning Chinese is more overwhelming than the actual

study of Chinese.

 

I myself taught a class in Boston this past fall semester on " Medical

Chinese Language. " I had specific theories on how to teach adults, how the

structure of the Chinese language - " the big picture " - could be introduced

in the first class, ways to integrate learning vocabulary with learning how

to look up characters in a dictionary --which all required writing my own

lesson texts!

If you gear the teaching correctly, medical Chinese is not that hard to

learn and can be made fun.

 

After only six 2-hour classes, and with only 30 min per week of at-home

study, my students (who started with NO knowledge of Chinese at all):

-could pronounce all sounds properly using pinyin romanization and the four

tones

-could write down the proper pinyin when I said words (no mean feat)

-started writing Chinese characters so they would know how to analyze the

brushstroke order and the " radical " meaning components of characters so

they could use a dictionary

-learned a significant amount of basic medical vocabulary which I arranged

around common meaning radicals or themes to facilitate quicker study

-could use 3 common dictionary types (Chinese dictionaries are arranged by

radicals or strokes or combinations)

-were introduced to selections from classical texts to see how it's simple

and poetic (yet difficult to understand nuances)

 

At the last class of the 12 hours I tested them with a page of Chinese

character phrases they had never seen and must translate by using a

dictionary. Many of these involved looking up only one character, because

they had already learned most of the vocabulary and could guess what the

phrase might be. These included: liver fire flaring upward, phlegm

confounding the heart orifices, liver wind stirring internally, ascendant

counterflow stomach qi, depressive liver qi, moisten the lungs, dampheat

pouring down through the intestines, etc.

 

These are the necessary building blocks. Grammar in Chinese is easy,

practically nonexistent.

Next, they should learn some of the modern medical terms that are often

seen in literature from China, as the use of terms from allopathic medicine

is common in China. Although a lot of vocabulary like endometriosis,

psoriasis, etc can be found in a dictionary easily.

 

I know well the type of Chinese language courses that are usually offered,

and they are not useful for adult learners who want to quickly learn

Chinese in a specific field. Flaws' book and the new book from

Paradigm/Red wing are useful texts for that purpose, but it is hard for

many people to learn any language without a teacher, especially without

being able to pronounce the words they see. Our aural/visual abilities are

closely linked in language learning.

 

Our PhD programs should have a language requirement, and in our field,

naturally Chinese would be the logical language. If one could already

demonstrate knowledge of other relevant languages like Japanese or Korean,

that should also fulfill the requirements. It would be great to have

people in our field who could translate material from Japan, Korea, or

Vietnam and we should reward them. If learning field-specific medical

Chinese were still too much of a burden, perhaps French or German could be

required at schools that are not so committed to academic excellence, since

there is some literature in our field coming out of those countries.

 

As an aside, I'd be interested in communicating privately with anyone on

this list who has taught Chinese courses for acupuncturists/herbalists, to

compare strategies and materials. It would be great if we could start

developing specific teaching methods and course materials to share that

would become standard for our PhD programs. karlarenaud

 

Karla Renaud