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Recommendations of I Ching translations

charly

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Hi Charly, Thank You for the link's.
I found
Axel Schuessler: ABC Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese interesting and downloaded it.
Hi, Svenrus:

Glad to be of some help. For initiating translation Prof. Greg Richter fron Truman Sate University has a page with some translations from the chinese, like Confucius' Great Treatise or Sunzi's Art of War.

Among them there is a modelic word by word translation of the ZhouYi with each line of the the received text in pinyin, english word meaning and a translation with needed dropped words , connectives an the like, in lowercase. Only lacks of the traditional chinese characters. It comes with a useful introduction.


I advice to download it and read carefully at least the Introduction. Must be said that only the five texts in the «Translations» paragraph are availabe in pdf to download, not the books under «Selected Publications».

May enjoy it.

Charly
 
S

svenrus

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Thank You, just recommended it not that far ago.

And his translation can be used toghether with "ABC Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese" and also Bradford Hatchers Vol. II can be used in contrary to another book (not in pdf) I often use: Kerson Huang's translation (not the one he wrote with Rosemary) where he have chinese on left and english on right pages - this I mention because I'm not a sinologist and thereby can't use the ABC Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese there.
 

tacrab

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I like the "fields of meaning" mentioned above. This concept can help with Chinese language study, and equally to study of the hexagrams.
Here are a few methods:

-Open one's mind beyond Word in Language A = Word in Language B. This is particularly important when studying languages that have almost zero in common. Think about how you acquired language and understanding and storytelling in your own life.
-Find reliable source materials (as others have detailed above). Make sure reference materials are relevant to topic and era. (Native English speakers, think of the difficulties of reading English literature from just a couple hundred years ago, and then magnify that). Each topic can have its own specialized terminology. (Compare Daoist or Buddhist terminology.)
-Create, as you read, your "fields of meaning" for each word and phrase. This can be the dictionary definitions at first, but then must expand beyond that, into grammar and context (era, usage, context, social and educational level, formal/informal usage, and so on. Add to those, the most diffiuclt: idiomatic expressions and humor!)
-One method for building "field": Use a "filled out" translation such as Wilhelm, alongside a "spare" one such as Shaughnessy, Rutt, or Field (Wu Jing-nan is a nice inbetween one). Tussle with how they all arrived at their translations.
-This is a many-year project. People who have long mastered Chinese, native and non-native speakers alike, who are serious students of its language or texts, keep learning by challenging themselves. The language is very deep and long. There is no one right answer for almost anything...but there are certainly many incorrect answers! And answers might be correct--until the next archeological discovery. Take Hexagram 55, Feng, Abundance or a place name?

This is why there is so much commentary!

Barbara
 

charly

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...
Take Hexagram 55, Feng, Abundance or a place name?
Barbara
Hi, Barbara:

Begining with the last, H.55 title FENG, should it not be a borrowed character for a personal name, as an hidden message for those that can understand the pun? Maybe Kang Hou? (1)

Coming soon, I have more coments to do about great post.

All the best,

Charly
______________________
(1) More about Feng / Kang Hou, see here:
Ch.
 
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