Herb Reg. and the Doc -- learning Chinese

[Guest guest]

Chinese Medicine , " kenrose2008 "

<kenrose2008> wrote:

>

> But this won't happen until and unless

> we manage to stimulate a widespread

> concern and initiative to take possession

> of the knowledge base of the subject;

> and this just can't be done until we

> get serious about Chinese medical language.

>

> As Nigel says, language is the neglected key.

> The correct thing to do is cease the neglect.

 

Distinguishing between being fluent in the language and being able to

get the flavor of the original from translations.

 

In studying classics, e.g. SuWen, in English translations, the first

think I notice is that any translation is an interpretation. This can

be readily observed by reading two or more translations in parallel.

One available translation, by Andrew We and father, actually adds in

large spans of added text, and rearranges it relative to the

original. This book has the advantage of interspersing the

translation with the original (Wang Bing) text. But a handful of

lines of Chinese gets translated by a half-page or more of English

text.

 

With my rudamentary ability to read the Chinese, I'm able to discern,

in small (particularly interesting) passages and with a lot of work,

how extended, and sometimes distant, the translation is from the

text. (I've even found several blatant errors.)

 

From another angle, having lived with and worked with PRC born

individuals, i.e. from extensive communication in " English " , I can

pick up some sense of the grammar and syntax of Chinese from the fact

that they are largely using English words but Chinese language

structure.

 

What I would like to have is word-for-word translation of Chinese

texts. That is, show the Chinese characters and the/an English

translation for each one. AND the pinyin and tone, so I can look the

words up in a pinyin dictionary when I want to.

 

I think if we oould experience the flow of the words/characters in

their original way like this, even with English words, it would be a

major advance towards getting under the skin of the original language.

 

Unfortunately, most " translations " (read " interpretations " ) are

attempts to create well-structured English prose, with a lot of

expansion of the text to do so. And most often without having the

original Chinese character text there for reference.

 

Unschuld's translation of the NanJing gives original text and closer

English, marking off editorial expansions by [...] brackets. But

lacks the pinyin.

 

The Wiseman et al translation of the ShangHanLun looks like something

I could work with. Giving Chinese text, pinyin transliteration, and

then English translation, the whole process is tracable, thus

amenable to multiple levels of intrepretation and criticism.

 

Given the classical literature in this form, one could " learn " the

Chinese on the run, while studying at the English level and digging

deeper where motivated. This, given " ars longa, vita brevis " , is much

more pratical than first launching off in to the large task of

mastering Mandarin.

 

One bias to acknowledge here is that I'm very interested in reading

the classics, but not much interested in reading modern medical (TCM)

Chinese.