Misunderstanding about Stephen Birch

December 8, 2003

All,

I know this is out-of-sync with current list topics but it is important to keep

the record straight and it is not always possible to fact-check as fast as the

list can move. The following post is a misunderstanding:

> I had this discussion w/ Steve Birch

> once - he was arguing that because he was working from Japanese sources and

> not Chinese Nigel's gloss did not apply to him - and he is a HUGE supporter

> of Nigel's work. I don't know if he still feels this way but I personally

> think it is wrong.

Following is direct quote from Stephen Birch:

I'd like to know who 'quoted' me as saying that Nigel's terminology can't

be used for Japanese acupuncture as I have never said that. I have said

many things about choice of terminology all of which rather strongly

support what Nigel has done. With reference to Japanese acupuncture,

the

actual size of the term set is rather small compared to a TCM term set, so

there has never been any difficulty using the term set (when I teach I

use Nigel alongside what is common in the places I teach so that people

know what I am talking about). There are a few rather peculiar terms in

Toyohari that will not turn up in Nigel's glossaries as they are to do

with japanese braille and other individual allusions from certain blind

teachers. Translating Japanese texts for publication is very different

than translating TCM as much of the terminology is rather mundane,

daily

terminology mixed with a lot of western terms, the number of technical

terms is really quite small, so Junko and I have never had difficulty

using Nigel's terms...in fact Junko keeps Nigel's dictionary/glossary

alongside her japanese dictionaries.

I don't mean to restart the thread, just to insure that Stephen's position is

properly quoted. (Junko is Stephen's wife, a translator and acupuncture

clinician.)

Bob

bob Paradigm Publications

Robert L. Felt 202 Bendix Drive

505 758 7758 Taos, New Mexico 87571

---

[This E-mail scanned for viruses by Declude Virus]

Recommended Posts