Luận văn a study on english translation of vietnamese traditional medicine texts

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST — GRADUATE STUDLES PHAM THI MINH CHIEN M.A MINOR THESIS A STUDY ON ENGLISIIT TRANSL

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST — GRADUATE STUDLES

PHAM THI MINH CHIEN M.A MINOR THESIS

A STUDY ON ENGLISIIT TRANSLATION OF VIETNAMESE TRADITIONAL MEDICINE TEXTS

(Nghiên cứu việc dịch các tài liệu

Y học Câ truyền tiếng Việt sang tiếng Anh}

: English Linguistics

1 60.22.15

Hanoi, 2010

TABLE OF CONTENT

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

The ai oŸhe siudy, sssnenistnienetanieiinoeensisieiasistmanesennsenases 2

The structure of the study

1.2.3 Study of Baker (1992) sccssstesseeieeseete

1.2.4 Study of Vinay and Darbelnet (1995)

1.2.5 Sludy of Catford (1996)

1.3 Translation methods and procedures

1.3.1 Word — for — word translation

1.4 Translation strategies: Domestication and Voreignization

Chapter 2: Current sttuation of VIM translation and characteristics of language and

vi

2.2.2 For the modernization of VIM 12

235

2.3.1 Problems in tranalating VTM tochnolosical terms

2.3.2 Problems in translating classics of VIM

2.4 Reasons for probicms

2.5.2 The inlegration of VTM and ancient philosophy 26 2.5.3 The blsnding oŸ conccpts of VTM and wcstcrn medieine 26 2.5.4 The incompatibility of the terminology of VIM with that of Wester medicine

27 2.6 The characteristies of the English translatien ø£ VIM sec 27

2.6.4 Using idiomatic translation cccscessssesauststiasisinseeeseiasisnee: 30

Chapter 3: Solutions for English translation of VIM and standardization of English

3.1.1.1 Literal translation or fiee translation se eeeeeroeeue 38 3.1.1.2 Domestication or Foreignization cseeeeeeoeeeue 33

3.1.2.4 Minimizing number of equivalents for one word 36

3.2 The solutions for standardization of English translation of VTM 7

vit

3.2.2.1 Establishing systematic translating theory

3.2.2.2 Formulating standard source terminology 2.3 Standardizing core concepts of VIM

PART 3: CONCLUSION

REFERENCES

APPENDIX

APPENDLX 1: Terms and phrases causing difficulties for English translation of VIM

APPENDIX 2: Molhods used in (ranslating VTM Lexis

APPENDIX 3: Glossaries

Glossary of acupuncture and moxibusion

Glossary of herbs and preseriplions

Glossary of ancient works

in the world began to realize its importance

Actually, since the implementation of reform and opening policy in Vietnam, VI'M has developed rapidly together with our country’s ceonomic property and it has gained world-

wide attention through its amazing achievernent,

In spite of the great popularity in the world over last several decades and great amount of translation work done in the field of the English translation of VIM, there are still many obstacles lay ahead for the persormel of VTM int the field of medicine and forsign academic exchanges To a great degree, this is due to many historical and cultural factors, such as VI'M’s long history, its unique theoretical system and so om; all those cause difficullics in translating VTM inlo English

‘The rationale of study

English translation of VIM serves as a bridge for VIM to integrate into the world and help improve the treatment and prevention of diseases, ‘The accurate and standardized English translation of VTM has become more and more iinpartanl, Both (he Vietnamese scholars who want to introduce VIM to the outside world and the enthusiastic foreign learners who want to draw the essence of VI'M are calling for the standardization of the English translation of VIM, honce the trend of going standardize is becomming obvious and urgent

‘As an English major teacher, who has been teaching in Military Institute of Traditional Medicine for ycars, and has the opportunitics to attend many lectures and courses given by the famous scholars in the field of VI'M and has the experiences of doing some English translation af VTM, the wriler of (his thesis will make a systematic explosion on the

English translation of VIM on the basis of ter own practical exporient

experiences of other translators and scholars

The aims of the stuily

The study is implemented with the following aims:

- ‘Toidentify common problems in translation of VM and the main causes

= To clarify typicat charactoristivs of the language and English translation af VTM

- To ind an angle ftom which to approach the translation

- To make some recommendations to translate VIM and some solutions for

standardization of Tinglish translation of VTM

The research questions

‘These above aims of the study are supposed to be fulfilled by answering the four following questions:

1, What are the recommendations tor English translation of VIM?

Which transtation approacly strategy to adopted in translating VIM?

2

4, What causes difticulties for translators in translating VTM? Why?

Scope of the study

Medical translation is a huge ficld, cach branch has its own charactctistics, and thercforc,

the translator working on any branch of medical translation has to try his best to fulfill the job The transtation of VIM texts is nol an exception Within the scope of this study, @ study on English translation of VIM texts is very exclusive to talk about, However, due to the limitation of time and lack of experience, my minor thesis is only limited to dealing with some problems, characleristies, methods, strategies and recommendations in translating VTM texts

Methais of the siudy

Comparative analysis, quality analysis and conductive approach are used in this research

The structure of the xtuily

The main boily of this thesis is divided into three chapters, exchuting intraduction and conclusion

Chapter 1: Literature review

Parl 1 deals with translation deGnition of Nida, Cartford, Bell, Tlatiin & Mason and

‘Newmark, Each has different dimension and emphasis but they come to a common target

Equivalence

Part 2 lists ‘Translation iquivalence studies of Jacobson, Nida, Baker, Vinay & Barbelnet

and Catford in accordance of the time they were published to see that Catford is reasonable

to define cquivalenee as cultural and linguistic cquivalents, Four studics prior Catford (akobson, Nida, Baker, and Vinay & Darbelnet) could be divided into two groups The first group included Jakobson's, and Vinay & Darbelnet’s that mainly defined and focused

on linguistic aspects of equivalence The second group consisted of Nida's and Baker's that emphasized on the cultural dimensions of equivalence

Part 3 introduces two basic translation strategies, Domestication and foreignization through studies of Linfors and Vermuti,

Chapter 2: Current situation of VIM translation and characteristics of language and English transtation of VPM

Parl 1 introduces brisily VTM, then the necessity of English translation of VTM Engtish translation of VIM is very essential for the integration of Western scientific medicine and VIM and for the modemization of VIM in the age of globalization,

Part 2 identifies the existing problems and the reasons in the process of translating VI'M

then analyzes the charactcristics of lmgnage and English translation of VPM

Chapter 3: Solutions for English transtation of VIM and standardization of English translation of VIM

translation and domes

to translate VIM Then, four techniques are proposed as the sohition for translating VIM

‘They are using loan — word translation for unique VIM terms, literal translation for VIM

terms, carefully sakecting words white using word — for — word translation and minimizing the number of equivalents for one word

Parl 2 makes suggestions to standardize English transtation of VTM on measuras of

translators and government

‘The difficulty is not the fact that they are conflicting but as Nida (1976) who is recognizably the leading scholar of translation, says that their focuses are different In

order to have the relatively overall piclure of translation, outstanding figures’ namics

in translation studies should be put forward Cartford (1996) sees translation as “sie

replacement of a text in one language {SL} by an equivalem text in another language

(TL) Equivalent text in Bell’s translation definition (1991) is defined more detailed

“translation is the expression in another language (or TL) of what has been expressed

in another, SH, preserving semantic and stylistic equivalences” Watim & Mason (1990), however, focuses more on the communication purpose of translation rather than the semantic and stylistic features: “Translation is a conmunicative process

which takes place within a social context" Meaning is the emphasis in Nida’s

definition (1975): “Translating consists of producing in the receptor language the

closest natural equivalent to the message of the SL, first in meaning and secorully in

style” More simply, Newmark (1988) defines translation as “the rendering of a

written text into another language in the way the author intended in the text”

spite of differences in the expressions, the above definitions share common feature, which is to find equivalents that best preserve features of the original by the choice of appropriate ‘'L's semantic, lexical, grammatical structures, cultural context or even

howcvcr, aÌl trarslation thcorics are relatcd to the notion of cquivalcnee in one way or

another Hence, equivalence plays a crucial role in translation

- Intralingual (within one language, ie rewording or paraphrase)

- Interlingual (between two languages)

on the message itself, in both form and content, unlike dynamic equivalence which is based upon the principle of equivalent effect

1.2.3 Study of Baker (1992)

Raker (1992) defines four kinds of cquivalents as follows

+ Faquivalence that can appear al word level and above word level, when translating trom one language into another

- Grammatical equivalence, when referring to the diversity of grammatical calogorics across languages

- Textual equivalence when referring to the equivalence between a SL text and a

‘TL text in terms of information and cohesion

+ Pragrmlic cquivatenes, when referring to imprinmalurs and stratogics of

avoidance during the translation process

1.2.4 Study of Vinay and Darbelnet (1995)

Vinay and Darbelnet (1995) view equivalence-oriented translation as a procedure which replicalcs the same situation as in the original, whilst using completely

different wording

of types and shifts translation Catfrod proposes very broad types translation in terms

of three criteria

1 The extent of translation (full translation vs partial translation),

2 The grammatical rank at which Ihe Ganslation equivalence is established (rank bound translation vs unbounded translation)

3 The levets of language involved in translation (total translation vs restricted

translation)

Catford (1996) studies the equivalence and finds out Uhl thote are twa factors which affects the equivalence They are linguistic and cultural factors These two factors bronght two equivalents ‘They are Lnguistic and cultural equivalents ‘This finding of

Catord is very significant because il consists of both important approaches toward equivalence, namely, linguistic and cultural approaches,

1.3 Translation methods and procedures

‘The central problem of translating has always been whether to translate literally or frooly Newmark, P (1988) points oul, (hat the differences in the emphasis (ST or TT) have resulted in a variety of translation methods and procedures

Dus to time constraint and within the framework of the thesis, the author presents only translation methods, procedures and strategies that match the content of the study,

or cant serve as a firm foundation for the research according lo [he study of Newmark (1988)

4.3.1 Word - for - word tronsiation

‘This is offen demonstrated as interlinear translation, with the TL immediately below the SL words The SL word-order is preserved and the words translated singly by their most common micanings, out of context, Cultural words arc translated literally,

‘The main use of word — for — word translation is either to understand the mechanics of

the ST or to construe a difficull text as a pre-translation proves

1.3.2 Literal translation

The SI granmmatical constructions are converted lo the nearest TL equivalents bat the lexical words are again translated singly, out of context, As a pre-trauslation process, this indicates the problems to be solved

1.3.3 Free tronslotion

Free translation reprodaces he matter withoul the manner, or the content, withant, the

form of the otiginal, Usually it is a paraphrase much longsr than the original, a so- called ‘intratingual translation’, offen prolix and pretentious, and not translation at all

1.3.4 Idiomatic translation

Idiomatic translation reproduecs the ‘message’ of the original but tends to distort mances of the meaning by preferring colloqmalisins and idioms where thase do not exist in the original

1.3.5 Abbreviations

Abbreviations have been always been a common typs of pseudo-neologism,

1.3.6 Loan word translation

Loan word translation (emprunt, transference, transcription) is the process of

transferring a ST word ta TL text as a translation process

1.4 Translation strategies: Domestication and Foreignization

Tn translation stuities the lwo basic strategies are domestication and forcignivalion,

which are in practice exclusive Lindfors (2001) summarizes the idea behind the basic strategies:

Translating a text form one culure to another usually requircs that a choice is fixst

‘made between two basic strategies, domestication and foreignization Domestication

means making the text recognizable and familiar and thus brings the foreign culture closer lo the reader in Ihe (arge( culture, while foreignizalion means (he opposile, taking the reader over to the foreign culture and making him or her feel the cultural and linguistic differences This choice between domestication ancl foreignization is inked to questions of ethics, loo: If targel-cullural conventions are followed in the translation process, the text will be readily acccptable in the target culture, but it will inevitably lose some of the characteristics that would have given it a foreign or even exatic feeling

Translating is nat 4 value-free action and choices are ade al ail the stages of the process: what to translate, to whom, how, ete as Vemuti (1998) puts in:

Translation is often regarded with suspicion becanse it incvitably domesticates

foreign texts, inscribing them with linguistic and cultural values that are intelligible to

specific domestic constituencies This process of inscription operates a every stage in

the production, circulation, and reception of the translation It is initiated by the very choice of a foreign text to translate, always an exclusion of other foreign texts and

literatures, which answers to particular domestic interests it continues most

forcefully im the development of a tranlalion slrategy Lhal rewnlles the foreign text int domestic dialects and discourses, always choice of certain domestic values to the

exclusion of others And it is fnrther complicated by the diverse forms in which the

translation is published, reviewed, tead, and tanght, prodincing cultural and political

effects that vary with different institutional contexts and zocial positions

In short, domestication refers to the target culture oriented translation strategy by which unusual expressions to the TL are abandoned and tumed out into some familiar cones so as ta make the translated loa intelligible and casy for the target readers Foreigmzation is a source culture oriented translation strategy that strives to preserve the foreign flavor as much as possible in order to transfer the SL and source

—cullure into the target ones

In the past history of translation studies, many translation theorists held a one-sided

attitude towards domestication and foreignization by viewing the two as incompatible and denouncing one in favor of the other As a tmatler of fact, drastic criticisms in either domestication or foreignization can only do harm to the study of the two strategies rather than advance the research The selection of translation strategies is

not decided by which ong is superior by decided by various factors aporating at different levels where both strategies Inve their respective advantages, The respectively serve different translation purposes and meet the needs of different types and readerships Therefore, given different factors influencing the translator's selection of translation stratogics, the objective existence of cultmal and linguistic differences and indispensable role respectively played by either domestication or foreigrizaiion im cultural commurication and exchange a dialectical and complementary relationship should be established between domestication and

foreignization

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TRANSLATION AND CTIIARACTERISTICS OF LANGUAGE

AND ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF VIM

2.1 Brief introduction of VEM

For several thousand years, VIM has evolved under the shadows of ‘Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), culture, and tule At this poinl in lime, it is nearly unpossible to separate out and delineate VTM iiom TCM because their developments

Vietnamese medicines

According to Thai (2003) in Traditional Vietnamese Medicine: Historical hackground and Current usage, VTM and TCM differ in practice, yet they share the same theoretical foundation ‘ICM practitioners would spend more time giving their palicnls a sort of theoretical explanation of whal’s going on, whereas VTM practitioners would use a more practical approach and concentrate less on theory

The comerstone of VIM theories is based on the observed effects of gi (energy) Although there are as many different forms of gi as there are different kinds of functions (Source or Fasanee qi, Food qi, qi of the Mind or Shon, otc), thoy arc all related to the original Source or Essence and Food gi, The Essence is inherited from our parents, while Food qi is extracted tiom food Furthermore, we see that gi encompasses more than just Energy It is also blood and “fuel” gathered and stored by the body So, qi is also the substance we call matter As in Einstcin’s theory of energy

and matter, that E=MC2, or that matter is essentially energy Blood and g/ are like

mailer and snergy; they are different stalas of the same element (Thai, 2003)

VI'M’s major theories are: Yin and Yang, Hive Hlements, 12 Ozgans and 14 regular

meridians These theorizs arc offen combined 10 explain a health comlitian T will be

iL

explaining these theories in 2.4.1.1 while giving the reasons for the difficultics in

translating VIM into English

2.2 Nee ies of VTM translation

2.2.1 For the integration of Western scientific medicine and VIM

VIM is a unique medical system in the world It was established on the basic coneepts of the correspondence between man and nature, the integrity of the human body and mind, and maintenance of a dynamic balance of life activities under the influcnecs of the internal and external cnvironments Now, in coordination with modern medicine, it presents the advantages and distinguishing features of Vietmamese care, The curalive techniques as herbal medication, acupuncture, moxibustion (application of heat to the acupuncture points by buming, a piece of the

Vietnamese plant named Artmisia maxa (ngdi or ngdi cửa on the skin by

acupuncturs needles) and diel-thorapy, as well as the th

ry of maintaining good health — integration between man and nalure, ha monivation beIweon body and mind, and combination of action and stability, aie attracting attention among medical circles all over the world,

‘As Vietnam develops its modern medicat system, active efforts are being made to synihesive Western and Vietnamese techniques and theories, with emphasis on the respective strengths and wealuiess of both approaches, Vietnamese, Western medicine and integrated Vietnamese and Western medicine exist side by side Medical workers working on ths infogralion of Vietnamese and Western madicine have done a tot of resemch work on the basi theories and principles of treatment of VIM with advanced teclmiques and modem methods for example, scientific annotations have boon made on the prineiptes of the zang-ýu organs, slasis of blood and acapunclare Great achievements have been madz by Vietnam in the fields of acupuncture

operation.

12

The doctors of both VIM and Western medicine fect that it is most beneficial to society to incorporate the best of two forms of medical practice into one and minimize the amount of present bias This would lead to use of the most effective form of medical practice, complimentary tiodicine, for the future

However, il is a pity that both Westem and VTM doctors feel il diffienl to communicate with each other when it comes to specific concepts of VIM because of cultural and language barriers Properly translated texts of VIM are in urgent demand

to fasten the communication and integration of Westem medicine and VTM

2.2.2 For the modernization of VTM

‘Vietnamese people are proud of their millennia old form of medicine However, in the

age of science, we cannot deny that there exists controversy about its effectiveness

cntile proof of

‘As more and more scholars show interest in VM and its theories, various attempts have been made to prove VTM theories with Weslern Ishoratory techniques For instance, the ancient medical men found that most patients felt easy in the early

morning and even better before late afternoon, and felt painful in the dusk and even

worse at night ‘his is because of “in the morning the vital gi begins to grow stronger while pathogenic faclors become weaker; al midday the vital gf is predominant over the pathogenic factors; in the Jate afternoon the vital gi is weakened while the

pathogenic factors prow stronger, at midnight, the vital gi restores to the internal organs, thus the pathogenic factors come into the Icading place.” (Wn Changguo,

2002) ‘hough these statements sound like mere guess-work to westerners, it is

observed by moder scientists that there exist biorhythms ir Ihe hurnan body of the pulse conditions, temperature, and the amount of oxygen consumed, carbon dioxide release and hormone secreted during the 24 hours of'a day

Additionally, new progress has been made in the investigation of folk prescriptions, in planting and processing herbal medicines and in the development of drugs Now, more cooperation with intcmational medical circle is desired to climinate bias against VTM and to modemize it

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Tt gocs without saying that translation plays an essential role in the process of

cooperation he more efforts we put into VIM translation, the better the world will

understand VTM and the faster VIM will approach modernization,

2.3 Existing problems of English translation of VIM

2.3.1 Problems in translating VTM technological terms

Due to its long history and complex cultural background, VIM is incredibly hard to

be perfect and time consuming to understand, Poor translation of the basic VTM conecpts sometimes causcs malpractice and thus docs harm to the acceptance and development of VIM

There are many tenms in VTM to which no equivalence can be found in westem culture or western medicine, including those in basic theories, anatomy, therapy methods, cto Take yan aml yang for cxample, the tedicat application of yin and yang the doctrine of yin and yang, which will be explained latter, may sound very

confising to westerners Tirst, there are not concepts the same as or similar to them in

Western medicine theories; sceond, the terms arc too abstract to understand because it

is not easy for a westemer to tell which symptoms pertain to yin or yang

The inconsistency can be explained by the thot that VIM texminologies consists a great number of poly-semantic anes ‘lake the Vietnamese word Air (a common world

in VTM) for example, different versions of lranslation of iL cant be listed as folowing:

(đlìHw tỳhư Spleen deficiency

can huyết hư Insutticiency of liver blood

ty bu ta Chronic diarthea due to hypo-fimetion of the spleen tur gia Paticntt with weak constitution

Trư mạch Feeble pulse

hư nhiệt khát ‘Thirst due to aesthetic heat

These following examples are in similar situation’ VIM noun terminology itself has

the phenomenon that one word has several meanings, Kor example:

Nội tiêu (1) intemal dispersion: one of three main methods of

treating sores It involves the use of dispersing and dissipating medicinal herbs to climinate sores in the

initial stage prior to suppuration.

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(2) intemal dispersion <thirst>: onz form of dispersion thirst (a disease characterized by thirst and emaciation) Thất tỉnh (1) seven affects: joy, anger, anxisly, Ihough, sorrow,

fear and fright (2) seven relations: seven relationships or interactions

of medicinal herbs, namely: going alone, mutual need, ztnpoworing, (bar, aversion, killing and clashing

Hạ khí (1) lower body gi

(2) precipitate gi

‘The pulse terms provide another example for the inconstancy in VIM translation on

the aspect that different translators use different tertas in translating VTM terms The

following table shows pulse names taken fiom five different sources, as follow:

(1) Hoàng Duy Tân (2006) Fietsamese Dictionary on Acupunture Terms Dong Nai

Publishers

(2) Hitu Ngoc, Lady Borlun (2008) Traditional Medicine Hanoi: ‘Thé

(3) Fietnamese Traditional Medicine (1999), Hanoi: The Gioi Publishers

(4) Hoang Bao Chau (1998) Present Situation of Vietnamese Integrated Medicine

Chinese Journal of Integrated Medicine , 64-78

(S) David Wang & Joseph F.Audette (2008) Acupuncture in Pain Management In

Contenporary Pain Medicine (pp 379-416)

Phù | Floating Superficial Hoang at Surface Floating

surface

Hesilant Knolly Knotted - Bound

For cach Victnamesc term, there arc differences in the English terms uscd Some

translators use the same ferm but there is little consistency between two or more

translators over the whole field ‘Taking the words at face value (as of course many

readers do), it is possible to obscrve synonyms wot only for differom writers’

equivalents for different terms For example, in (2), (3) deep means ¿rẩm; while it is

sunken in (5) ‘the foreign students reading multiple authors might be confuused by the

existence of accelerated, rapid, hurried and hasty, which in fact describe two distincl,

faster-than-normal pulses sd Furthermore, some of the terms are untraceable in

some of the sources

It is quite easy to see how the conflation of concepts due to inappropriate word

choices exacerbates the lack of terminological standardization Let us take the

example of two similar pulse terms vé fire and nwo A pulse that describes vé đục,

literally having no force, is not the same as the pulse describe mimo, weak IL is a

descriptive term that can be applied fo many pulses lacking in strength in addition to

their other qualities The term nincoe (weak), by contrast, in most Viemmamese

literature spceifically denote a pulsc that apart from being forceless is also sunken

(tray and according to some definition is fine (14) (Hoang Duy Tân, 2006)

The challenge we facz in the ercation of an English terminology of VTM is lo ensure

the conceptual distinctions madc in the SL and the TL, and this can only be done

satisfactorily when terminological distinctions in the SL are reflected in the TL if the

translator is unaware of the distinction between vô lực and nleroe, or even though he

1s aware of it, he fails to reflect it in translation and draw the readers” attention to it,

then the reader might not grasp if If translator A translates vổ lực and nhược as

forceless aml weak respectively, bul translator B translates both torms as weak: and

translator C translates them both as forceless, the distinction will not get through to all

readers Of course, the reader who only reads translator A’s works will understand it

clearly Bul thoss who have learned the distinction fir A and who try to apply their

understanding of the distinction when reading B and C will have a distorted

16

understanding of B and C And again, students who read B and C without reading A will not have any notion of the distinction at all They will likely think that forceless and weak mean oughly, if not exactly, the same things Unless all writers distinguish

vô lục anl nhược and consislenlly use tha same English terms, they right as well nat bother making any distinction in name at all

2.3.2 Problems in translating classics of VTM-

The Sino-Vietnamese language, commonly used in VIM documents, poses another difficulty for translators, Vietnamese ancient language tends to be highly comprehensive The modern Vietuamness has greal iTersnees fromm the ancient ane Thus an ancient text, especially when it loads scientific information, is beyond comprehension for the one that has little knowledge about Vietnamese ancient

language This will definitely pose greal diffienltios for the westornsrs who arc relatively unfamiliar with the content A translator with a good sense of responsibility may accurately transcode the language by trying his best, but it is not at all an easy

job

Furthermore translating VTM text would he a time consuming task and even an

impossible task if the translator wishes the target texts could accomplishing the sane

literary achievement as that of the source, since modem Vietnamese and English have distinctively different conventions in language use

'Take rắc in âm thịnh tắc hàn, dương thịnh tắc nhiệt for example Lf the translator has

no iắca Ihat the 8ino-Vielramese tắc in (his casc mewns cause hz fails lo translate these two phrases correctly into predominance of yin causes coldness and

predominance of vang causes heat,

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2.4 Reasons for problents

2.4.1 Objective reasons

2.4.1.1 Great differences between FTM and Western medicine

‘VTM has a very long history of several thousand years The practice of VM, highly influcnecd by the development of Victnamesc culture, involved physical therapy using acupuncture and moxibusion, and chemical therapy using materials of animals, mineral and plan origin in Ihe form of decoction of combined VTM natural products, The three main theories of VTM, yin yang, Five Elements, and 12 Organs and 14 Regular Meridians vividly present the differences between the two medical systems

The Yin and Yang is probably (he oldest and the most significant theory in VIM Tt describes the existence of and the importance for balance between opposite states (cold and hot, inaction and action) Yin and Yang can be divided into three divisions:

T) Cold varsus Hot; 2) Interior versus Exterior, and 3) Daficiency versus Excess Yia

conditions are typically manifested by symptoms of cold, interior, and deficient while Yang conditions are typically manifested by symptoms of heat, exterior, and excess

Invariably, chronic deficiencies in onc organ/clement typically lead 1 an excess or dcficizney in another organ/clement, It is bclicved that some organs naturally possess more Yin while other organs more Fang, but all organs have a Yin and a Yang counterpart Consequently, when one’s Yin within an organ is weak, one’s organ function is affcted, In the case of stomach Yin deficiency, onc will sce a Fin type of mal-digestion, whereas Stomach Yang deficiency will lead to a Yang type of mal- digestion Rach syndrome requires a specific form af treatment A Fang or qi deticisncy of the Stomach can be exacerbated by supplementing Yin tonics and vice versa ‘he use of acupuncture, moxibustion and herbal medidries rectifies the yin- yang imbalances by supplementing the deficient elements Nearly all symptomatic diagnoses arc based on the philosophy of yin and yang

The Victnamese believe that yz and yang control the working of the Universe, which

is made up of the five symbolic elements: Wood, Hire, Earth, Metal and Water ‘The proper balance of the Five Elements is the working principle of the Mive Elements

theory, Tverything in the Universe

Elements, Observing these elements in nature, VIM medical theorists keenly relate these same concepts to our health ‘Thus, organs with complementary functions or

(or on Farth) is dominated by one af the Five

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have similar symbolic relationships, are paired In the light of all these relationships,

the heart and small intestine are considered Fire The stomach, pancreas and spleen are designated as Earth The lungs and colon are Metal The kidneys and reproductive system are Water The Liver and the Gall Bladder represent Wood (See the figure

below)

FIVE ELEMENT/ENERGY CHART

‘Cytles and Characteristics

[woop | FIRE | EARTH METAL | WATER

| te Sạn | mywEerer | NAM teh

| SERSON | Seri | #mwnr | ñamimn | Amen] — Water —

: | Contemplation |

ANIMAL | rasa | Peni oe Tar Sate

‘ORGANS | Ther, Gal | Fan Wake | — Spleen, — | bangs, Cota | Raney

Bader | “Hooter | Pancreas, Reprictive

SENSE | SE Tấn | THỜ: | sine | Hern

Interaction of the Five Elements:

(http://www feng-shui-tips-for-wealth conv five-elements.html)

These elements together can create a creat (constructive/ generative) — positive

influence (sinh) or destroy (destructive) - negative influence (Ahdc) In the positive

cycle: Wood bums to generate Fire, which produces ashes that generate Earth, Earth

generates Metal, which contributes to the production of Water (possibly via

consideration on the cold surface), which promotes the growth of plants, thereby

generating Wood In the negative cycle: plants (represented by Wood) destoy Earth

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by breaking up soil with their roots and depleting its nutricnts, Earth destroys Water

by soiling its clarity after mixing in, Water subjugates Kire by extinguishing it, while

Fire destroys Melal by melting il, and Metal subjugates Wood by cutting if The vital organs, and physiological and psychological functions of the body, are related lo the Five Elements according to the Five Elements theory

For example ancient Vietnamese associated liver with Wood because they believed liver promote the spreading of gi and blood vessels like a tree spreading out fteely

Trees produce green leaves, so green corresponds lo Wood Immature frit, gresn in color, is usually sour, and so soumess is related to Wood, Trees germinate in spring, and the weather in spring is neither too hot nor too cold, but is offen windy So spring

is the season pertaining to Wood, and wind is also related 10 Wood The eyes and tendon all pertain to Wood, because the condition of the liver can be reflected in the eyes And the liver controls the tendons Anger is apt to impair the liver, and patients with liver troubles arc usually i