The Development of the Research on Standard English Translation of Basic Terms of Chinese Medicine

The International Forum on Standard English Translation of Basic Terms of Chinese Medicine was held from March 31 to April 2, 2006 in Beijing. It was administrated by the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine of P.R. China (SATCM), sponsored by the World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies (WFCMS) and World Federation of Acupuncture and Moxibustion Societies (WFAS) and cosponsored by People’s Medical Publishing House (PMPH). Prof. She Jing, Vice-Minister of the Ministry of Public Health and President of SATCM, received delegates and specialists. Shen Zhixiang - Director of International Cooperation Division of SATCM, Li Zhenji - Vice-Chairman and Secretary-General of WFCMS, Deng Liangyue - Chairman of WFAS and Hu Guochen   President of HMPH delivered speeches in the opening ceremony of the forum. More than 30 well-known international specialists engaged in TCM research or English translation of TCM terminology attended in the forum. The specialists include Bryn Clark .C Chairman of National Certification Commission of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine U.S.A. (NCCAOM), Kory Ward-Cook ?C Chief Executive Officer of NCCAOM, Daniel Jiao .C Prof. of NCCAOM, Prof. Nigel Wiseman (United Kingdom), Prof. Paul U. Unschuld (Germany), Prof. Charlie Changli Xue and Prof. David Story (Australia), Prof. Sapir Roni (Israel), Prof. Liu Liang (Hong Kang of China), and etc.

    The Standard English Translation of Basic Terms of Chinese Medicine（Draft）was discussed and revised by the specialists in plenary session and group discussion. The research of draft, submitted by the Translation Department of WFCMS, was supported by SATCM. The Chinese terms mainly come from“Common Terms in Traditional Chinese Medicine’’ and “GB State Standard Basic theory nomenclature of traditional Chinese medicine’’. The research includes 6300 TCM terms with 30000 English translation references. To facilitate discussion in the forum, the draft includes 660 key terms and 778 basic terms together with various English translation references. After academic discussion, the specialists worked out unified English translations for most the key terms. The specialists reached consensus for English translation principles and basic methods of terms of Chinese medicine. The methods include translation of disease names, herbal names and names of Chinese medical formulas. All specialists have agreed to continuously joint in the research project via e-mail, and will publish the standard translation in the end of this year. Names of all the participated specialists will be included as English translation specialists on the title page of the publication. The “Standard English Translation of Basic Terms of Chinese Medicine” will be promulgated as an international professional standard by WFCMS and WFAS, and will be revised once every five years.

    The Committee for Approval of English Translation of Terms in Chinese Medicine and the Preparation Board of Translation Committee of WFCMS were set up simultaneously in the international Forum.