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(source)

The Chinese says:

cǎichāo

彩超

lit. "color super"

Google Translate has "Color Doppler", which is not bad at all, in fact quite good.

Here's the deeper, fuller story about the Chinese, from Diana Shuheng Zhang:

Cǎichāo 彩超 is the abbreviated form of cǎisè Duōpǔlè chāoshēng 彩色多普勒超声, meaning “Color Doppler Ultrasound”.

Here's an explanation of the technology from MedLinePlus:

What is a Doppler ultrasound?

A Doppler ultrasound is an imaging test that uses sound waves to show blood moving through blood vessels. A regular ultrasound also uses sound waves to create images of structures inside the body, but it can't show blood flow.

Doppler ultrasound works by measuring sound waves that are reflected from moving objects, such as red blood cells. This is known as the Doppler effect.

There are different types of Doppler ultrasound tests. They include:

• • Color Doppler. This type of Doppler uses a computer to change sound waves into different colors. These colors show the speed and direction of blood flow in real time.
  • Power Doppler, a newer type of color Doppler. It can provide more detail of blood flow than standard color Doppler. But it cannot show the direction of blood flow, which can be important in some cases.
  • Spectral Doppler. This test shows blood flow information on a graph, rather than color pictures. It can help show how much of a blood vessel is blocked.
  • Duplex Doppler. This test uses standard ultrasound to take images of blood vessels and organs. Then a computer turns the images into a graph, as in spectral Doppler.
  • Continuous wave Doppler. In this test, sound waves are sent and received continuously. It allows for more accurate measurement of blood that flows at faster speeds.

Enough for the Chinese.

Moving on to the Mongolian, first from Jichang Lulu:

From Dotno Pount:

The Mongolian matches the Chinese. It says önggetü ketü dolgiyan-u ĵiruġ or "colored ultrasound imaging." The term for ultrasound is a calque translation from Chinese (literally 'ultra wave'; the word 'sound' is dropped altogether), and it does not match the usage in Mongolia, where ultrasound is usually called 'echo.' This mismatch is pretty typical. I doubt any Inner Mongolian actually uses this translation for ultrasound. Most people I know would just say it in Chinese. Neither is as fun as the English version!

Now the little green figures and monitor inside the white circle make perfect sense to me!

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August 26, 2022 @ 10:51 pm · Filed by Victor Mair under Language and medicine, Language and technology, Lost in translation, Multilingualism

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