News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Tao Te Ching by LiquidSky on Thursday September 28, 2023 @12:38PM (#37692118)
>When reading ancient classics in translation, the wisest approach is comparing multiple translations. Only then a more complete picture will emerge.

But if I can't read the original ancient Chinese, what good does comparing the translations do? I can tell which ones read better to me, but I have no idea if any of them are actually accurate.

Re:Tao Te Ching by ethanbond on Thursday September 28, 2023 @12:47PM (#37692242)
I think the idea is that "the real content" will be nearest where all the translations have consensus. Aberrational translations are quickly discounted this way.

Even the single best translation will probably be worse than reading the top three best translations since translation is as much an art as a science.

Re:Tao Te Ching by woopsn on Thursday September 28, 2023 @03:00PM (#37694080)
So right at the beginning it says this -- you can talk about Tao, but not the eternal Tao[1].

From a philosophy perspective, it is a good idea to read different versions because there isn't really a "right way to put it". This kind of Taoism is meant to make you think and relate to the universe in a certain way.

If you're more interested in studying an authentic version of the text though, almost all of the English "translations" are inadequate and misleading. This was a book about dynastic China.

Even then, in terms of sinology, the sources from antiquity were compiled from multiple sources themselves and then underwent further revision, eg the order of Tao and Te was probably reversed at some point, the text became less regionally specific as it traveled across China, acquired different vocabulary and grammar, was appropriated by Confucians, broken up into chapters, etc. So in this sense it's interesting to read multiple translations and analysis. You won't get the full picture of Taoism from one source, because the full picture is spread all over Asia and ~2,500 years of dynastic history.

[1] John C. H. Wu's translation: https://terebess.hu/english/tao/wu.html#Kap01

Re:Tao Te Ching by z2 on Thursday September 28, 2023 @03:51PM (#37694859)
Not to make it sound hopeless, but Old Chinese is lossy and thus perhaps unknowable vs any written vernacular language, because it tended to favor conciseness at the expense of ambiguity. There is no total as a bit of subjective interpretation is required.

持而盈之 for instance is "持=hold 而=yet 盈=overflow 之=[implied subject or this]" while the translator decided to add a cup, writing "Holding a cup and overfilling it." It's a great assumption as 盈 has the etymology of a vessel being filled, but still an assumption nonetheless.