Yes/No

[pjthompson]

Random quote of the day:


Is there really any difference between a yes
And a no said insincerely?

—Tao Te Ching - 20
(tr. by Man-Ho Kwok, Martin Palmer, and Jay Ramsay)


The interesting thing about this one is that there are a number of translations out there—thousands of gazillions—each with its own unique (or not so unique) spin on this. Here's a sampling:


Is there a difference between yes and no?
tr. Gia-fu Feng and Jane English


How much difference between yes and no?
tr. Ursula K. Le Guin


What is the difference between assent and denial?
tr. Peter A. Merel


What difference between yes and no?
tr. Stephen Mitchell



Which means, I guess, that translation says more about the translator than the text being translated. The same, I suppose, could be said about illustration.

Comments

[sollersuk.livejournal.com]

If a diplomat says yes
He means maybe
If a diplomat says maybe
He means no
If a diplomat says no
He's no diplomat

If a lady says no
She means maybe

If a lady says maybe
She means yes

If a lady says yes
She's no lady

(Traditional)

[kmkibble75.livejournal.com]

Okay, that's just kind of creepy.

[pjthompson]

Yes and no. :-)

[pjthompson]

Perhaps.

[geniusofevil.livejournal.com]

ooooh, interesting.

[pjthompson]

Yes. I had a friend who refused to read anything in translation because she said she wasn't getting the original work, just an interpretation by a translator. But that really limits what one can read and be exposed to. The way I look at it, you're at least being exposed to a form of the original's thought, and each translation is interesting. I've read many translations of Gilgamesh, for instance. Each one different, sometimes startlingly so, but you still get the meat of the story from each--and since I doubt I'll learn cuneiform or ancient Sumerian any time soon, translation is what I have to go with. And some of those translations are some of my favorite things ever. Why would I want to deny myself that?