Abstract: Terminology constitutes a significant part in the development of a discipline. This paper probes into the origin of expertise and some related terms of cognitive psychology, analyzes the inadequacy in their existing Chinese translations, and thus argues for four principles for translating foreign terms into Chinese, i.e., accuracy, technicality, readability and consistency. On this basis, it goes on to elaborate on the proper Chinese translations of “expertise” and related terms in order to explore the meaning of these four principles as well as their interconnections.

Key words: terminology, Chinese translation, principles, expertise