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My qualifications--not to toot my own horn, just sticking to the facts--I am a senior lecturer on classical Chinese literature at the university level; I am also a professional translator of 27 years specializing in English-to-Chinese work. I have a personal interest in Chinese-to-English and do it from time to time to keep my skills sharp.
As one would expect from a background like mine, I am very picky when it comes to other people's translations. A popular Tao Te Ching translation like Mitchell's may be okay for the masses, but would never measure up to my standards due to the massive mistakes it contains. It is painfully obvious to me that Mitchell doesn't know Chinese from hot rocks. I have always said that a translation by a real Chinese speaker like D.C. Lau is far superior.
Until now, that is. This translation smashes all previous standards in a couple of ways. The first is that this is, as of now, the most accurate translation bar none. I may be able to do a better job myself if I devote a year or two to the task, but most of my word choices are going to be pretty close to Lin's and will probably look like plagiarization.
The second is that the commentaries in this book are also the best available right now. I have one or two quibbles here and there, but have to admit that overall the commentaries range from very good to excellent. This is to me a more dramatic difference because most other Tao Te Ching books contain either no commentaries, incorrect commentaries, or more often than not dry and boring academic details that most people would not care about.
One thing I really like about this translation is Lin's use of the plural form. It's a brilliant solution to an old problem. Now everyone will wonder why they didn't think of applying it to Tao Te Ching first. Also, I feel there's not enough commentaries to whet my appetite and would like to see more, perhaps in a future edition.
So here is my bottom line recommendation. You can stick to whatever translation appeals to you. If you don't know Chinese, the translation quality probably won't matter to you anyway. But if you ever get a burning curiosity to know what Laozi really, really says, this book will probably be your best bet. The highest praise I can offer is this: If your translation differs significantly from this one, you can pretty much be sure that yours is wrong.
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Profchan, April 9, 2007
My qualifications--not to toot my own horn, just sticking to the facts--I am a senior lecturer on classical Chinese literature at the university level; I am also a professional translator of 27 years specializing in English-to-Chinese work. I have a personal interest in Chinese-to-English and do it from time to time to keep my skills sharp.As one would expect from a background like mine, I am very picky when it comes to other people's translations. A popular Tao Te Ching translation like Mitchell's may be okay for the masses, but would never measure up to my standards due to the massive mistakes it contains. It is painfully obvious to me that Mitchell doesn't know Chinese from hot rocks. I have always said that a translation by a real Chinese speaker like D.C. Lau is far superior.
Until now, that is. This translation smashes all previous standards in a couple of ways. The first is that this is, as of now, the most accurate translation bar none. I may be able to do a better job myself if I devote a year or two to the task, but most of my word choices are going to be pretty close to Lin's and will probably look like plagiarization.
The second is that the commentaries in this book are also the best available right now. I have one or two quibbles here and there, but have to admit that overall the commentaries range from very good to excellent. This is to me a more dramatic difference because most other Tao Te Ching books contain either no commentaries, incorrect commentaries, or more often than not dry and boring academic details that most people would not care about.
One thing I really like about this translation is Lin's use of the plural form. It's a brilliant solution to an old problem. Now everyone will wonder why they didn't think of applying it to Tao Te Ching first. Also, I feel there's not enough commentaries to whet my appetite and would like to see more, perhaps in a future edition.
So here is my bottom line recommendation. You can stick to whatever translation appeals to you. If you don't know Chinese, the translation quality probably won't matter to you anyway. But if you ever get a burning curiosity to know what Laozi really, really says, this book will probably be your best bet. The highest praise I can offer is this: If your translation differs significantly from this one, you can pretty much be sure that yours is wrong.
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By posting your comments you are granting the good people of Powells.com the right (but not the obligation) to make your comments available to others over the Internet, and to copy and distribute your comments via other media, in each case on a royalty free basis. These terms govern the rights and obligations of the person posting comments and Powells.com; there are no intended third party beneficiaries of these terms. Posted comments are subject to monitoring, editing, and removal at any time. Please see our Terms of Use for our complete terms and conditions.Children's Online Privacy Protection Act
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