(A recent conversation between the author and Prof. Nathan Sivin of MIT on the correct translation of the term hsiu was followed up by a thoughtful letter from Prof. Sivin which is quoted at length below. It seemed appropriate to broaden the discussion to include the term wu-hsing, to provide some lexical-historical background, and to share the sense of the conversation with our colleagues.)Technical terms in any language cannot be understood correctly when rendered in another language unless commonly accepted and precise translations, which evoke neither more nor less than the meaning of the original term, can be achieved. Yet that is a difficult task, bounded by prior connotations of the translations chosen, and by differences in general cultural context that may be very great. The task is made more difficult still because any scholarly discipline that relies heavily on translation as one of its methods is often heir to “standard” translations of technical terms. Some of these have achieved general currency through long use, but might not have been, when they were first proposed, well thought out or based on adequate scholarly understanding. Others may be, in some cases, just plain wrong. An example of a standard translation that is not well thought out is “five elements” for wu-hsing; one that is clearly wrong is “lunar mansion” for hsiu.