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in defense of depression

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, " " wrote:

> " " wrote:

 

If you translate depression (wiseman:yu) as stagnation, how

> do you translate stagnation (wiseman:zhi) and distinguish between the two? Or

is

> this clinically unnecessary IYO?

>

 

 

oh yeah. my websters gives one meaning of stagnation as inactivity, thus

depression and stagnation do overlap in meaning. though depression (both in

common english use and wiseman's rendering of the chinese) retains the

connotation

of mood involvement, while stagnation is a more general term. If the chinese

term yu

(wiseman:depression) inherently carries the connotation of mood involvement,

then

depression is clearly the more accurate english rendering of this concept.

While yu/

depression has been used more widely in the past, it appears to be limited to

liver qi

in the modern literature. Thus, I think in that context mood involvement is

implied.

 

With all due respect to the chinese doctors mentioned who did not think much of

this

term, we have already discussed at length the criteria for translation and

speaking the

source language is not sufficient. The lead translator or final editor must be

a native

speaker of the target language. This is standard in in all fields. Does anyone

dispute

this? What would the basis of this dispute be? If the chinese docs in question

were

unfamiliar with the complete dictionary definitions of stagnation and depression

as

they are used in english, how could they comment on the term choices. In my

experience, most would not be thoroughly familiar with these nuances and

similarities. Consider the the fairly straightforward example of economic

depression,

which means sluggish activity of the economy. This use of depression is thus

hardly

obscure in common speech. In fact, the opposite of economic depression, which

is

economic growth, makes one think of a healthy wood element, which carries with

it

connotation of growth and spreading of things. I suspect Wiseman gave this one

immense thought given its ubiquity in our field.

 

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Having worked recently on joint translation projects with a Chinese

doctor, I can agree on the necessity of having native English speakers

in determining term choices for the target language. I think there is

clearly a strong case for distinguishing the use of yu/depression and

zhi/stagnation in clinical practice, and not blurring the terms.

 

 

On Jan 9, 2004, at 3:07 PM, wrote:

 

> With all due respect to the chinese doctors mentioned who did not

> think much of this

> term, we have already discussed at length the criteria for translation

> and speaking the

> source language is not sufficient. The lead translator or final

> editor must be a native

> speaker of the target language. This is standard in in all fields.

> Does anyone dispute

> this? What would the basis of this dispute be? If the chinese docs

> in question were

> unfamiliar with the complete dictionary definitions of stagnation and

> depression as

> they are used in english, how could they comment on the term choices.

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If you translate depression (wiseman:yu) as stagnation, how

> do you translate stagnation (wiseman:zhi) and distinguish between the two? Or

is

> this clinically unnecessary IYO?

>

 

>>>>>>I like and use congestion

Alon

 

 

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, " ALON MARCUS "

<alonmarcus@w...> wrote:

> If you translate depression (wiseman:yu) as stagnation, how

> > do you translate stagnation (wiseman:zhi) and distinguish between

the two? Or is

> > this clinically unnecessary IYO?

> >

>

> >>>>>>I like and use congestion

> Alon

 

What do you use for " congestion " then, as in " nasal congestion. " If

you use congestion for that also, do you think that it means the same

thing as the chinese term " zhi " ?

 

Brian C. Allen

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I think conjestion is OK. My point is just that depression is not acceptable.

 

Again:

As to yu being connected to emotional depression I have been told over and over

that

by native speakers that this is an allusion (sp?), a sort of a pun and only

refers to the

liver aspect. So having Blood depression or phlegm depression makes no sense.

Further, using yu/depression as a diagnosis will set off a number of bells in

the clinic.

Wiseman says we don't have to use the same words in front of the patients as on

our

intake forms. This is not possible in my clinic or especially the student

clinics.

 

What does the following mean?

" I had three patients today who suffered from depression, each of the cases of

depression was unique. "

Is this any way to run a language? I see this problem coming up all the time

with this

term and it really bugs me.

 

I agree zhi and yu should be seperated, although it is not a big, big issue. I

would

suggest " transitory stagnation " for zhi. Or something. I think it will matter

more to

translators than clinicians.

 

doug

 

, " ALON MARCUS "

<alonmarcus@w...> wrote:

> If you translate depression (wiseman:yu) as stagnation, how

> > do you translate stagnation (wiseman:zhi) and distinguish between the two?

Or

is

> > this clinically unnecessary IYO?

> >

>

> >>>>>>I like and use congestion

> Alon

>

>

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, " "

<zrosenbe@s...> wrote:

> Having worked recently on joint translation projects with a

Chinese

> doctor, I can agree on the necessity of having native English

speakers

> in determining term choices for the target language. I think

there is

> clearly a strong case for distinguishing the use of yu/depression

and

> zhi/stagnation in clinical practice, and not blurring the terms.

>

>

> On Jan 9, 2004, at 3:07 PM, wrote:

 

Z'ev

 

Would you be willing to share some of these translations, I would

love to post them on my website. What were the topics?

 

-Jason

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