Re:sources and translation (was: Help with Location or Subst

[Guest guest]

Well, I haven't posted in a long time, but I have to

say I have greatly enjoyed this conversation as well.

I feel as if I have been harping on these issues for

years and it is great to have new voices saying these

things and gettingm ore people to listen!

 

As regards Maciocia's books, I am sadly in agreement

that they often do a greater disservice than service

to the community. I stopped buying before the Gyn

book and as a teacher, while I want my students to be

aware of their existence (especially because the

NCCAOM uses them as a major source) I do not require

them for the very reasons stated early: poor

translation, shameless marketing of personal formulas

and poorly sourced information, not to mention a truly

outrageous price. I believe that Maciocia has a lot

to offer the community, and now that he is teaching in

the US (at PCOM SD) I hope that he will take a moment

to reflect on what is happening in education and the

development of the field and recognize that his

contributions can be much more valuable with a bit of

care and consideration. When the first Foundations of

CM came out, it was received into a field that had

very few books, but the situation is very different

today and I feel that all authors/translators need to

raise their own standards and begin to publish using

more " traditional " publishing standards, including

references, primary sources etc.

 

Obviously for me the major issue is translation and

using a standardized terminology that allows the

reader to understand the nuance and variation that

exists in Chinese (its not all about " tonifying " and

" sedating " !) The AAAOM has, for the past 2 years,

held a pre-conference 'terminology' debate that,

overall has been very successful. After this year's

debate a AAAOM committee was formed, to be chaired by

Eric Brand, to continue the discussion of nomenclature

and begin to create a freely available

cross-referenced gloss. I view this as big step

forward and I would encourage anyone who is interested

in the nomenclature issues to listen to the tapes of

this years's debate (with Nigel Wiseman) and to listen

to Nigel's class that was given at the AAAOM. It was

spectacular.

 

Marnae