Chinese Medical Translator Needs Help...

[寒月 Hanyue]

A sad state of affairs indeed.

My wife who has studied with Sabine speaks highly of her;

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/nurt ... e-medicine

Donations can be made to her cause and are rewarded with her time, or with publications.

It isn't for everyone, granted.

--
"My name is Sabine Wilms, and I am a writer, teacher, and translator, in addition to applying the spirit of "nurturing life" as a happy goat farmer in my time off. I recently founded Happy Goat Productions as a platform to facilitate the translation, teaching, and book production work that is the focus of my professional life. Ever since my PhD dissertation on medieval Chinese gynecology, I have found great pleasure in making the wisdom from the ancient classical writings on Chinese medicine (defined here as the art of harmonizing the microcosm of the human body with the macrocosm of the universe) accessible to modern Chinese medicine practitioners and others. I firmly believe that these texts on "nurturing life" (yang sheng 養生) have much to teach us today and that there is an urgency in getting their message in front of a larger audience.

I love to translate classical Chinese. I am one of a handful of people in the world with the obscure skill to read, understand, and communicate classical Chinese medical literature into modern English. Except for rare circumstances, I don't get paid to produce such translations, especially book-length texts, which can take literally thousands of hours and years of research to complete. I do it because I believe in the importance of this work and because of the response I receive from practitioners who apply their insights in their medical practices and personal lives. I am an idealistic academic and a writer, and I just want to see my work out there, available to anybody who wants or needs it.

Last November, Happy Goat Productions with great pride and love published our first book, Venerating the Root I, a translation by myself of a 7th century text on pediatrics. Shortly thereafter, the publisher of three previous books of mine, Jonathan Schell and The Chinese Medicine Database, sued me out of the blue for $200,000 in damages, claiming ownership of this translation. In my eyes, this is a frivolous lawsuit because I never received any money from him for this work, I did not sign the contract he presented to me, and Mr. Schell told me clearly 1.5 years prior to my publication date that he was no longer interested in publishing the book. This lawsuit is facilitated by the fact that Mr. Schell's father is a senior partner in the law firm he is using to sue me.

For perspective, The Chinese Medicine Database, which published my translation of the writings on gynecology by the same 7th century author in 2008, is selling that book for $200 per copy, has no presence that I can discern in the international market, has not issued a revision even though I have made Mr. Schell aware of potentially fatal errors in the current edition, and is refusing to drop the price or create a cheaper paperback edition. As a result, sales are currently less than a copy a month. Mr. Schell has thereby put this book out of the reach of most interested practitioners, while at the same time prohibiting me from retranslating or republishing this material, thereby holding this important and potentially life-saving information hostage...."

Read the whole story at the link above.

Best,

[Aetherous]

Her translations are amazing, and in messaging briefly with her, she seems like a very loving and kind person!

 

I looked her up here before posting, because just today I wanted to recommend her translation, "Let the Radiant Yang Shine Forth".

It's about Confucian/Daoist healing based on rectifying your emotions. Contains really unique and practical ideas about the Dao, which I think are something that we miss in our Western approach to the subject. People actually claim to have been healed of cancer and other hard to treat diseases from this style of healing.

[松永道]

Wow, I considered translating for the CMDB. Looks like I won't be now. Glad to see she raised the money she needed. How did the law suit go?

[Flolfolil]

...

Edited March 5, 2015 by Flolfolil

[Brian]

Not sure how I missed this thread back in August, snowmonki, but the campaign is now closed. The funds raised fell far sort of the goal, though, and I am wondering how I can make a contribution at this late date (as I assume the need still exists...)

 

Warm regards to you and Sing-Sing!

[JohnC]

Yea likewise... hearing about this, I'll not be supporting the CM-DB in the future.

 

I'll be checking out 'let the radiant yang shine forth'. Sounds interesting.

 

She says you can donate on her website.

 

John

[Brian]

Thanks, John! The first link is broken but the second works (which I wouldn't have noticed & tried had you not posted). There's a "Donate" button near the bottom of her homepage. I also picked up an e-book while I was there...