Where to start? I had a few of Nigel Wiseman's books that I finally got to open! I have a deep respect for Nigel and the work that he's accomplished, as well as his tremendous contributions to Chinese medicine. After reading the fist few lessons from Nigel's "Chinese Medical Chinese Grammar and Vocabulary" book I was floored. I had a new found appreciation for his life's work. Nigel is living master of his art and true scholar that I feel priveleged to know.
I called Nigel to let him know what a gift it was to have this book. After telling him he stopped me mid sentence and said, "Wait... which book", I laughed my ass off, "how could you forget writing a book" I said. He walked over to his bookshelf and said "oh, yeah, that one". Then I thought, when you're the contributor to the largest translation Chinese medical terms in history it would be easy to forget a book you wrote.
The next few week later I met with Nigel for lunch and felt ready to ask him for guidance on my next level of language studies. He told me to focus on the Materia Medica litrature from a textbook that he had put together "Readings in Chinese Medical Chinese " (unpublished). He said it was the next step because a lot of characters often repeat and the grammar structure is consistent and elementary. Really just good advice for any of you that want to start reading Chinese medical Chinese.
After I left Nigel's house I sat at cafe for the next 5 hours studying from that book. I was so impressed with this textbook. I was studying only five hours and I was learning so fast and It's due to the way he structures the lessons. You're given the herb/formulas data, just like you would see it in any common herb/formula reference in Chinese. You study the characters while learning the format at the same time. As opposed to learning the vocabulary, then moving on to single sentences, then grammar patterns, and then onto paragraphs using the learned vocabulary you just leaned. Following Nigel's method was way more effective! I've been at this a week or so and now and I'm looking up all my formulas in Chinese and understanding anywhere from 50-80% (depending on the Rx) of the material in Chinese. It's not only that, it's also his notes and commentaries that make the reading so enjoyable. None of it left me wanting to skip a line, in fact I was highlighting lines. In other words it's a great read. Thank you Nigel! You Rock!
If any of you out there have an interest in Chinese Medical Chinese buy Nigel Wiseman's books, they are the way to go!
Most of my modern Chinese medical language study is coming from translating my notes from the hospital. This has been the best way to learn modern disease names. Dr. Liu's intake notes are in Chinese medical short-hand, so when a patient comes in I listen to the list of concerns in common Chinese and then watch Dr. Liu write in formal medical short-hand.
A simple example of the shorthand:
Patient says: 我大便一天一兩次 (I go number 2 once or twice a day)
Dr. Liu writes: 大便1日1－2行成形 (Defecation in 1 day, 1-2 movements, formed)
So that's my update until now. I'll be posting some case studies soon as well as a "Chinese Medical Food & Drink Guide" that we give to patients to help them recover faster and not have their diets working against the course of treatment.
Here is a link to Nigel's Ph.D thesis from 1998
http://www.paradigm-pubs.com/sites/www.paradigm-pubs.com/files/u1/ex.pdf
Here is another link papers related to Nigel Wiseman
http://www.paradigm-pubs.com/WisemanWork
Even more exciting is the Wiseman's Jin Gui Yao Lue that is about to hit the press
http://www.paradigm-pubs.com/catalog/detail/JinGui
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