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Why TCM writing is hard to read shù yǔ · 为什么中医文字难读

The single biggest obstacle for learners is terminology. The same Chinese word is translated differently by different authors: 气 appears as qi, chi and "vital energy"; 脾 as spleen, "the spleen system" and "the digestive centre".

A second obstacle is that many terms are borrowed words — "liver" and "spleen" in TCM are not the organs. Our recommendation: always learn the Chinese character with the English term, and treat English translations as labels rather than definitions.

学习者最大的障碍是术语。同一个中文词被不同作者译得五花八门:气有 qi、chi、"vital energy" 等写法;脾有 spleen、"the spleen system"、"the digestive centre" 等译法。

第二个障碍是许多词是"借用词"——中医的"肝""脾"并不是那些器官。我们的建议是:学英文术语时永远连汉字一起记,并把英文译名当作标签,而不是定义。

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