Li Zhaoguo's remarks

At present, there is a lack of uniform standards for English of traditional Chinese medicine in China, and the number of research materials and works in this field is small and unsystematic. Most Chinese medicine translators in China are English teachers, who are not familiar with the subject of Chinese medicine, so some jokes have been made, such as translating the "anger" (vitality) of Chinese medicine into "anger" and translating "taking the doctor down" (gynecologist) into "doctor hiding under nepotism", which will inevitably make foreigners fall into a fog. On the other hand, although foreign scholars have been studying Chinese medicine and trying to introduce it to foreign countries through translation, there are differences in language, culture, values and thinking logic between China and the West. A well-known translator of traditional Chinese medicine in the west translated the term "White Tiger Festival" (joint swelling and pain) into "white tiger running". Many descriptive concepts of traditional Chinese medicine are difficult for ordinary people in China to understand, and it is even more difficult for foreigners to understand. For example, there are "kidney" and "deficiency" in English, but English can't express them when they are connected. Li Zhaoguo, director of the Foreign Language Center of Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, believes that Chinese medicine is different from western medicine in that it is humanistic medicine, not a purely scientific and technological product. Western medicine deals with instruments and the test sheets they spit out, while Chinese medicine pays attention to communication with people. Traditional Chinese medicine translation is also a new major in recent years. Since acupuncture anesthesia caused shock in the west, countries all over the world have paid more and more attention to traditional Chinese medicine, which has set off an upsurge of traditional Chinese medicine translation. There is a serious shortage of teachers in the translation teaching of traditional Chinese medicine in China. Traditional Chinese medicine and foreign languages need a lot of investment to make achievements, and it takes more time and energy to integrate them. In addition, the lack of systematization of teaching materials is also a big problem that puzzles English teachers of traditional Chinese medicine. Li Zhaoguo believes that experts, monographs and monographs are the three criteria for the establishment of a discipline, while TCM English can hardly be called a discipline because of the lack of theoretical framework, and TCM English is only a "quasi-discipline". Li Zhaoguo is also worried about students' language and cultural background. The task of foreign language teaching reform in colleges of traditional Chinese medicine is more important than that in ordinary colleges. Students should not only learn college English, but also medical English (western medicine English) and Chinese medicine English, which requires a lot of hardware and software. Li Zhaoguo said frankly that because students' China traditional culture foundation is generally weak, TCM English is even more difficult to chew. As we all know, Huangdi Neijing is a bible for Chinese medicine learners. To learn Chinese medicine well, you must be able to read and even recite the book, but many students can't even read it. Therefore, in the postgraduate teaching, Li Zhaoguo asked students to study China's classical literature, "but it is too late to grasp the traditional culture education from the postgraduate stage."