Medical Vocabulary

[Guest guest]

On the subject of term standardization, the

rectification of names is a part of the standard

Confucian project to reform government. Wiseman 's

efforts to convey the urgency of this project in the

English language is laudatory, but to think that this

work can be accomplished solely on the basis of

translation from the Chinese is short-sighted. In the

famous deficiency/vacuity issue, Wiseman seems unaware

that the term " deficiens " has a two thousand year old

history of usage in the west, and underestimates its

ability to connote a sense of absence. People admire

his arguments and say deficient anyway --as they

should -- some knowing this term is synonomous with

vacuity, some not.

 

My point is that how we use words in the west, even

words that have their origin in standardized Chinese

medical vocabulary, needs to resonate within the

target language. The more resonance, the more

powerful the word; the more powerful the word, the

stronger its capacity to consolidate treatment options

and harmonize homeopathic and allopathic sympathies.

Compromise is inevitable -- and desireable. For when

words lose their meaning in Chinese, are they not

recycled rather than discarded?

 

Carl

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read only the mail you want - Mail SpamGuard.

 

[Guest guest]

, carl ploss <cploss> wrote:

 

> My point is that how we use words in the west, even

> words that have their origin in standardized Chinese

> medical vocabulary, needs to resonate within the

> target language.

 

Carl

 

I couldn't disagree more. Resonance is important for poetry, not a technical

field. I

seriously doubt that latin/greek based terms in western med resonate with anyone

in any

culture.