Re: NATLANG/TRANS/ETC: The Daode Jing (Tao Te Ching) of Laozi (Lao Tzu)

In a message dated 2004:05:03 08:22:52 PM, jcowan@REUTERSHEALTH.COM writes:

>J Y S Czhang scripsit:
>
>> http://www.hku.hk/philodep/courses/EWEthics/ttc.htm
>
>I gotta say, I think this translation is absolutely detestable: it makes
>"words easy to understand" into impenetrable and cacophonous jargon.

In a message dated 2004:05:03 08:48:26 PM, Kou (latinfrench@SAGESCHOOL.ORG)
writes:

>I quite agree. I don't think it resonates on a literal translation
>level, a slightly-more-liberal-but-more-artistically-friendly-English
>translation level, or any combination thereof. And it certainly
>doesn't capture the zing of the original. What the hell is
>'deem-acting"?
In a message dated 2004:05:03 09:56:08 PM, jcowan@REUTERSHEALTH.COM writes:

>So far my favorites are Le Guin, Feng & English, and Binner; the latter
>two tend to swap places, but the Le Guin version has my heart.
    Personally I like the multiple approaches that Jonathan Star uses *

    * _Tao Te Ching: The Definitive Edition_ by Lao Tzu, translation and
commentary by Jonathan Star, 2001, Tarcher/Putnam, hardcover ISBN 1-58542-099-9

    One of the approaches Star uses creates a _verbatim_ version of the
original Chinese text: the closest translation that the English language can pull
off and still be both semantically accurate (or reasonably approximate) and
still be strikingly-&-oddly poetic/imagistic... "literal character definitions
that allow the reader to create {their} own interpretation"... (BTW Star _cites_
both Bynner's and Le Guin's poetic translations as sources/inspirations as
well as merely _mentioning_ Hansen's klunky Borg-style one for comparison
purposes)

    "... It clarifies the the meaning of the text without in the slightest
reducing its mystery...." - Jacob Needleman's review of Star's edition


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