Marblehead Posted August 9, 2011 I will not say more, because only few in here are interested in reading classical chinese. Well, I enjoy reading what others are saying about it. That counts for something. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lienshan Posted August 10, 2011 (edited) Here's another reason why native english speaking people translate Dao De Jing so badly English does only have 1 negative "not" while classical chinese had primary 4 negative "not"s, bu, fu, wu, fei, which were used to define the related character; here are two examples: bu dao = not walking = dao is defined as a "subjective" verb or adjective fu dao = not passable = dao is defined as an "objective" verb or adjective wu dao = not a walk = dao is defined as a "subjective" noun fei dao = not a way = dao is defined as an "objective" noun bu ming = not entitling = ming is defined as a "subjective" verb or adjective fu ming = not named = ming is defined as an "objective" verb or adjective wu ming = not a title = ming is defined as a "subjective" noun fei ming = not a name = ming is defined as an "objective" noun Here's a third reason why native english speaking people translate Dao De Jing so badly The coverb ke does in classical chinese always define the related character as a verb; here are two examples: ke dao = maybe walking ke ming = maybe entitling Edited August 10, 2011 by lienshan 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
