Building Vietnamese Medical Terminology via Language Contact

Abstract

Vietnamese medical terminology has been built through language contact with Chinese, French, and English medical terminology as well as from the creation of Vietnamese folks in general and Vietnamese physicians in particular. This paper sought to explore how Chinese, French, and English medical terms have been borrowed by and translated into Vietnamese medical terminology, and how equivalent Vietnamese medical terms have been generated from Sino-Vietnamese and Pure Vietnamese building blocks. The research found that the transmission of foreign medical terms into Vietnamese and the development of Vietnamese equivalents have managed to achieve harmony with Vietnamese style, conceptualization, and culture. Some instances of translating medical terms were also discussed to illustrate this harmony as well as point out shortcomings in certain previous translations. Finally, the patterns of the distribution of Sino-Vietnamese and Pure Vietnamese components in Vietnamese medical terms were introduced to prove, to some extent, that the creation of Vietnamese medical terms does not entail spontaneity, but a conceptual framework.