DO NOT HESITATE!

What follows is an unedited post by Mark Schwartz, L.Ac., FABORM, Dipl. O.M. (Buckhead Acupuncture & Herbal Center, www.atlanta-acupuncture.net, in Atlanta, Georgia, US), a happy graduate of the first cohort of my Triple Crown program that finished in spring 2022. The next cohort starts September 8, 2022. To enroll, simply get in touch with me by filling out the admissions survey at the bottom of this page with information on the whole Triple Crown program:

Hi all,

Ever think about studying Chinese language to access the Chinese medical classics directly? Now with literally no background in Chinese language you can jump into the world of Confucius, Zhuang Zi, Meng Zi, Lao Zi and more. With the Chinese that you’ll learn from these classic Chinese philosophers you’ll be able to read works on case studies, herbal materia medica, ancient acupuncture works, internal cultivation, gynecology, Zhang Zhongjing’s Jingui internal medicine book, passages from the Suwen and Lingshu Neijing, Leijing and much more from the Medical Medley series.

Prior to taking the class, many years ago I had taken two years of Chinese in college and after studying Chinese medicine lived in China for 2 years. There were others in our class who had more experience than me but strikingly there were even more students who had little or no previous Chinese language knowledge. By the end of the series to various degrees of speed and depth we were all able to translate and discuss the selected texts…pretty amazing to me!

What seems like a hundred years ago I started to teach myself medical Chinese with books like Teach yourself medical Chinese by Bob the Erroneous One and Chinese Medical Grammar by Sir Nigel Wiseman. They were great for their time, but as I recall Bob made no attempt to teach Classical Chinese. Nigel’s book was great for the first 80 pages or so for grammar but while he did cover some classical grammar he didn’t always distinguish between modern and classical Chinese…so easy to get lost there.

I was excited to sit in a class with Dr. Wilms as she had previously taught classical Chinese to Chinese medical students in Oregon for several years and this was the first series she created specifically designed for Chinese medicine practitioners. You can study modern Chinese at a local college, in China, with a modern Chinese person in your hometown or online, or on an app. It’s a lot more challenging to find a person qualified to teach you classical Chinese especially when your goal is to read medical classics. My sense is even if you enrolled in a university and studied Chinese fulltime you wouldn’t get what Sabine brings to the classroom.

Now I have her class handouts, resource texts and dictionaries that I can turn to time and time again when I’m stumped on this or that particular grammar conundrum.

Our first group had students from Canada, Cuba, Ireland, Poland, Singapore, Spain, and the United States. Dr. Wilms has built a great platform for us to potentially continue to use to stay in touch to discuss vocabulary, grammar, and translation related topics. The bigger dream for Dr. Wilms is to create a collaborative collective where translators can come together to work on producing high quality translations in teams of shared interest groups. I hope the connections I’ve made with her and other students in the class will last for many years to come!

DON’T HESITATE, the classes are starting soon… very soon! If you’ve ever considered studying Chinese medical Chinese but just didn’t know how to get started please please check out Dr. Sabine Wilms’ Triple Crown Chinese language program designed for Chinese medicine practitioners. She is the author-translator of over 12 books with a rich background in Chinese philosophy, history and linguistics. She not only teaches how to read the classics, she fills in the missing blanks of cultural context which are essential for understanding these ancient works. Whether you’re an absolute beginner or already have a strong background in modern Chinese there’s much to gain for everyone… I promise! I did her series of classes this past year and it was an absolute blast!