Tuesday, October 28, 2008

How do I find the Chinese translation for a medical term or drug?

The first thing to do is find the generic or technical name of the drug. For example I was looking for Albuterol, but is that a name brand or the actual name of the drug? With a little research online I was able to find out that Albuterol is the generic name and there are other brand names. I also found out the World Health Organization recommends calling the drug salbutamol sulfate.

Then I checked my favorite online and paper dictionaries. Of course, none of the names of the drug appeared in any of them.

So, I had to resort to what I call the “Google Method” to find the hanzi translations for the drug. Skip to the bottom of this post for a tutorial on how to use the Google Method.

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