ABSTRACT

The translation of Chinese medicine into English and other Western languages is an incredibly complex endeavour. There are many reasons for this, including the ways in which the meanings of Chinese medical terms and concepts relate to parallel or similar concepts in conventional ‘Western’ medicine (henceforth ‘biomedicine’); the inherent polysemy of terminology in Chinese medicine; the ways in which Chinese medical texts differ from other types of texts, for example in literature or the hard sciences; the shifting cultural contexts in which Chinese medicine is used; and the variability in expertise required to translate various genres and styles of Chinese medical texts (see Wiseman and Zmiewski 1989; Wiseman 2000a; Pritzker 2011, 2012a, 2012b, 2012c, 2012d, 2014a, 2014b, forthcoming; Pritzker et al. 2014). This chapter provides an overview of how these challenges have been dealt with historically, and offers a summary of critical issues that remain in the field. It further highlights innovative approaches to the research of translation in Chinese medicine, and makes several recommendations for practice as well as suggestions for future directions in the practice and research of this field. Because this chapter is based on research done in the US, it is limited by a focus primarily on the translation of Chinese medicine into English.