tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18418774.post113307406833794645..comments2023-05-18T05:31:33.432-04:00Comments on amidaworld: Lost in Translation in Translationamidahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04549468846113375560noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18418774.post-1133295240528175152005-11-29T15:14:00.000-05:002005-11-29T15:14:00.000-05:00Azuma: You hit it on the head there--I am interest...Azuma: You hit it on the head there--I am interested in studying what people thought other people said.<BR/><BR/>The really tricky thing with something like the Analects is, they predate dictionaries and reference materials. If you try to use reference materials to try to understand it, you are very likely to come across a reference to the very thing you are looking up and a "meaning" derived from... the commentaries!<BR/><BR/>Some have (naively) argued that China had no "philosophical" tradition and, at the same time, overlook the commentaries. That misconception is being rectified these days.<BR/><BR/>Matt: Chat it up, please!<BR/>And mukashimukashi, I too wanted to double major in Religious Studies and Comp Sci. I just couldn't get through the math for CS, though. Then in my 3rd year, I opened this Chinese can of works and ditched the Religious Studies.amidahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04549468846113375560noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18418774.post-1133275118219711892005-11-29T09:38:00.000-05:002005-11-29T09:38:00.000-05:00I started out English and Math/Computers, then fle...I started out English and Math/Computers, then fled both of them for Linguistics, then realized that if I did a couple more English units in my final year I could get a double major... I actually enjoyed the pomo stuff much more the second time around, because I had enough perspective to treat it as a big semantic game (and other classes in Chaucer and Beowulf to keep me sane.)<BR/><BR/>Sorry for using your blog as some kind of... chatting place, Amida!Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04907893064341891074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18418774.post-1133184108973043222005-11-28T08:21:00.000-05:002005-11-28T08:21:00.000-05:00Azuma, your Classical background is showing ;)I ca...Azuma, your Classical background is showing ;)<BR/><BR/>I can see both points of view. I love the idea that hard, cross-textual study can bring obscure things into focus and solve centuries-old riddles of language; on the other hand, I also love the fact that this kind of thing demonstrates how every text draws its meaning partly from context, and as the context fades away and gets patchier the meaning does too. (I suppose here my linguistics-with-a-side-of-PoMo-English background is showing.)Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04907893064341891074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18418774.post-1133102243418195592005-11-27T09:37:00.000-05:002005-11-27T09:37:00.000-05:00As a translator, what would I do with this passage...As a translator, what would I do with this passage? Maybe something intentionally open like:<BR/><BR/>The Master said, "The Yi and the Di with rulers are not like the states of Xia without them."<BR/><BR/>Then I'd have a big fat footnote.amidahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04549468846113375560noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18418774.post-1133102093362574212005-11-27T09:34:00.000-05:002005-11-27T09:34:00.000-05:00Damn, I just wrote a longish reply to your comment...Damn, I just wrote a longish reply to your comment, and it seems to have disappeared. The gist was:<BR/><BR/>Don't feel too bad for old Confucius--these guys are essentially arguing the same thing (here, "Ritual is really really important") but taking different paths to get there and drawing different sophisticated questions from their very careful readings (here, "Is Ritual part of nature or is it ingrained in our culture?") Nobody is giving any crazy po-mo Derridean deconstructionist readings in these texts, and they're pretty hungry for the meaning of Sage #1.<BR/><BR/>Also, I have deliberately chosen a very vague passage from a very vague text. It's not everything that gets this sort of 180-degree reading.<BR/><BR/>I think we just can't know what it means for sure. Everybody draws on these commentaries when they read these texts--even modern Chinese editions come with some of them included. I think the English translations would benefit from laying their cards on the table, admitting the text is not cut-and-dried, and expose the reader to the whole discussion.<BR/><BR/>I know I am all over the place with these thoughts. I am not 100% clear yet, either, as I have never taken an interest in Confucianism before. Like most foreigners, I think, I was always drawn to Taoism, etc. and thought Confucianism was nothing more than "Study a lot and listen to your parents." There is a lot more to it than that (and that's one reason I think readers of the translations should be privy to the commentaries).amidahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04549468846113375560noreply@blogger.com