• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.57-68
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• 2010

Objectives: Standard is a unified criterion for some repeated things or concepts in a certain scope. It is fundamental to implement standardization in English translation of traditional Korean medicine (TKM) formulae to promote progress in the evaluation of TKM and also to serve in enhancing the efficiency in studies of medical formulae. Methods: We undertook literature research on current Korean and Chinese medicinal formulae in English translation, analyzing 485 Korean formulae and 464 Chinese. We also undertook a comparative study of 102 common English translation of both Korean and Chinese, proposing a constant and effective methods for English translation of medical formulae. Results: To have a precise English translation we classified medical formulae nomenclature in advance. We found that formulae naming can be fundamentally classified into 6 forms which are (a) Materia Medica + Preparation Form, (b) Materia Medica + Indication + Preparation Form, (c) Materia Medica Numbers + Preparation Form, (d) Indication + Preparation Form, (e) Concept + Preparation Form, and (f) Miscellaneous. Based on these findings we could determine that these 6 types ((a)-(f)) can all be translated into English by (1) Materia Medica + Preparation Form and (2) Indication + Preparation Form + of (with) + Materia Medica schemes. In regard to translation of Indication it can follow Noun+~ing participle form. Conclusion: This research provides a common method of TKM medicinal formulae English translation for better understanding, education, training, practice and research in TKM. Consequently, English translation using these methods can serve as the initial study for standardization of TKM medicinal formulae.