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Leonid Loiterstein
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Q. What do you mean by transparent?
A. By transparent and opaque mean how much we really
understand of the meaning and structure of our own language. I
once overheard a nine year old Italian boy make the following
comment as his elder brother urinated in a gutter "Ma, che
inondazione!" That is transparent--a nine year-old Italian can
know the word inondazione, because it is meaningfully related to
onda, wave. Virtually no nine-year old English speakers will know
the word "inundation" because it is a latin book word in our
language. The equivalent anglicism, if it existed, would be
something like infloodment,or even infloodscape. Chinese words
are transparent in this way, at least when read and often when
spoken as well. Thus, the Chinese phrase for adrenal gland is
shenshangxian, kidney-atop-gland, quite similar to the Latin ad
renem, and hence means a lot more to the Chinese than even the
phrase "adrenal gland" does to most of us. All of western
medical terminology is translated into Chinese this way--what it
loses in terms of "pure abstract conceptualizing" it gains in
everyday understanding. Which is preferable?
Q. Can you give some more examples?
A. Take the two bones in our lower arm. The only names we
have for them today are ulna and radius. These are the
"scientific names," the ones medical people--and few others--
learn. Those bones are important to you every day, yet you have
no everyday way of referring to them at all. But there is clear
evidence from historical linguistics that these bones once had
other names. The ulna was once called the "el", the radius
possible something like the "spoke." We know about the "el" from
Sixteenth Century poetry (maid to lover: ("if I give you an
inch, you'll soon take an el") but also from modern German, where
the words are die Elle and die Speiche. Even in modern English
the place where the "el" makes a bend or "bow" (sich beugt) is
called the elbow. In Chinese these words translate as foot-
measure bone (close to the meaning of "el") and rowing bone. All
bones and all locations in the body have similar down-to earth
names in Chinese. Which people are likely to be on better terms
with their bodies--one that has names such as these or one where
everything is linguistically off-limits except to doctors?
German continues to a better job here even today with such words
as Gehirnhautentzundung and Harnrohre for meningitis and urethra.
Q. Could you say something more about the four-
character constructions.
A. That's at the very heart of the way the Chinese
systematize and store their knowledge. They like to sum up a
whole subject in just four characters, four syllables long,
which they then use as a mnemonic. Dah-dah-dah-dah--it's like
half of Big Ben ringing. If it's a truly difficult concept then
they will occasionally go for eight syllables, or full Big Ben.
It's very close to being like a computer macro, a brief series of
keystrokes to stand for something much longer. And they can, if
need be, even macro-ize the four character phrase down to two
characters--or even one. We have a few such structures even in
English. Here's one: Spring Ahead Fall Behind. It sums up a
specific procedure Americans go through twice each year when they
change from Standard Time to Day-light Savings Time and tells
them which way to move the clock's hands. It's a fairly good
example of Chinese-like thinking in English. Here's another:
"Blows Strokes Sweep Breaths." I've left out the punctuation
because there wouldn't be any in Chinese. There wouldn't even be
an `s' marking three of the words, because the Chinese don't
usually record the plural in nouns and verbs. So let's try "Blow
Stroke Sweep Breath." How would you translate that into another
language? Would you imagine it as something poetic and
inspiring, such as "The vast wind beats on my heart, sweeping my
breath away?" Or is it a tale or oarsmen being swept away while
pursuing a whale? Or could it be something overtly sexual?
these are the sort of errors awaiting anyone trying to translate
medical Chinese--and some have fallen into such traps. The
precise meaning of the phrase Blows, Strokes, Sweep, Breaths
refers to a medical context in American English: it is a mnemonic
for remembering the correct order of actions in dealing with an
unconscious non-breathing patient and is taught in courses on
cardio-pulmonary resuscitation.
Q. Can you give some examples of these four
character summations as they occur in Chinese
medicine? Are they used frequently?
A. I can give lots of examples. They're used almost
everywhere in Chinese medical texts, for diagnosis, treatment
procedures, theoretical explanations--and almost always in these
incredibly abbreviated forms that sound either bizarre or quaint
or poetic in translation. That may be a good rule of thumb for
determining a bad translation in any context. A translation may
possess a certain cultural distance from its original, but if it
sounds too quaint or bizarre or poetic, its likely to be a poor
one. People in other societies do not normally go around being
quaint or poetic or bizarre--they wouldn't survive very long.
And the Chinese have not only survived--they have burgeoned and
flourished. You want some examples--look at any text in the
medical literature, better yet look at these Chinese herbal pill
bottles. There are hundreds like them--this one says
"Indications: Treatments of vulnerary (stricken or fallen),
shocken and twisten, septic burns and hemorrhagia per diaresin
(Tesuit's drops), etc." Here's another:"Invigorating the spleen
and reinforcing the vital energy, relieving flatulence and
regulating the functions of stomach. Used for asthenia of the
spleen and stomach...borborygmus, sticky stool." Do I have to
tell you that's a bad translation? This is the sort of thing
that might be published in the `Tickler File' of our ATA
newsletter, it's what the New Yorker used to print under the
heading `The Mysterious East."
Q. You mean it doesn't sound like that in
Chinese?
A. Not in the slightest. It's positively beautiful in
Chinese. Medical technical language to be sure, but concise,
incisive, elegant. Almost entirely phrased in these four
character `aphorisms' (`slogans' might be closer) that Chinese
uses to make a long story very short. We expect medical language
to sound Greco-Latinate and, well, medical. But Chinese medical
language and thought, beyond the problems posed by the four-
character summaries, is much more geometrical, mathematical, even
legalistic in feel. There is continual talk of confirmations, of
evidence, of methods of proof. The language couldn't be more
empirical in tone, but almost all of this gets lost in the
translation. It hasn't helped that one of the chief
`popularizing' books in the field mistranslates the term for
`evidence' pr `confirmation' as pattern.
Q. You mention a Chinese "medical literature--
how extensive is it, and how much has survived?
A. Vast amounts have "survived." We tend to think in
terms of Greek or Roman medicine, where we have allowed
innumerable volumes to be lost. But the Chinese haven't made
this mistake. With some exceptions, libraries were not allowed
to burn. Consequently, a vast medical literature is still
central to Chinese culture, even with the advent of western
science. One library in Peking claims over 50,000 volumes. A
few hundred new books are published each year, and there are
several national and local journals. Varieties of Chinese
medical language include ancient, modern, and a number of stages
in between, all with their peculiarities in vocabulary, as is
proper for an ongoing developing field of knowledge. If we fail
to see this, it's only because of a disease I call "culture
blindness."
Q. Is Chinese Medicine antithetical to Western
Medicine? Or is there some way the two can be
reconciled?
A. Of course they can be reconciled. No intelligent
observer would suggest the contrary. Western medicine has a more
sophisticated view of some problems, but the Chinese view can be
sophisticated in other ways. But we have to go beyond the
unvoiced preconception on both sides, and to do this we have to
recognize that they exist. We must become bimedical instead of
merely monomedical. It's a task that linguists and translators
can perhaps do best, by really looking carefully at the original,
seeing what is actually there, and arriving at an accurate
version in western languages. It represents an opportunity for
linguists and translators to show that their skills are not just
academic and parochial but can play an enormous part in a field
that is not merely practical but absolutely central to human life
and health.
Copyright 1987 and 1995 by Alexander Gross
and Sandra Celt
This piece may be reproduced for
individuals and for educational
purposes. It may not be used for
any commercial (i.e., money-making)
purpose without written permission
from the author.
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Leonid, loi...@translations.spb.ru
Leonid Loiterstein
Пеpечитываю и плачу: где был этот текст, когда споpили пpо скpолбаpы с
файpволами и аплетами:
LL> spoken as well. Thus, the Chinese phrase for adrenal gland is
LL> shenshangxian, kidney-atop-gland, quite similar to the Latin ad
LL> renem, and hence means a lot more to the Chinese than even the
LL> phrase "adrenal gland" does to most of us. All of western
LL> medical terminology is translated into Chinese this way--what it
LL> loses in terms of "pure abstract conceptualizing" it gains in
LL> everyday understanding. Which is preferable?
[skip]
LL> That may be a good rule of thumb for determining a bad translation
LL> in any context. A translation may possess a certain cultural
LL> distance from its original, but if it sounds too quaint or bizarre or
LL> poetic, its likely to be a poor one.
[skip]
LL> It's a task that linguists and translators
LL> can perhaps do best, by really looking carefully at the original,
LL> seeing what is actually there, and arriving at an accurate
LL> version in western languages.
Вот! Только надо "western languages" заменить на "pусский". И аттачмент, и
пассpу, и pелиз, и пpиложеньице -- все бы в мусоpное ведpо. А ленивых уpодов,
будь то инженеpы (апплет) или филологи (пpиложеньице) -- давить. "...чеpесчуp
замысловато, эксцентpично или поэтично..."
(Тут важно сделать оговоpку: каждый пеpеводчик хотя бы pаз в жизни был этим
самым "ленивым уpодом" ;-)
Leonid, loi...@translations.spb.ru