#i've seen translations of the daodejing that read like completely different books...

[just-late-roman-republic-things]

Translation is an art form in its own right. You're not just moving words around. You're trying to capture vibes, connotations, themes, subtext - making choices about what to preserve, what context to add, and what subtleties must be lost. You're trying to help two cultures, perhaps even distant time periods, connect with and understand each other...Should you be literal, or try to capture the spirit of the text? How do you decide what the spirit of the text even is?

#even when just posting a posteguillo excerpt in spanish on here i sometimes run into this #and posteguillo has very straightforward prose! and english and spanish are relatively easy to translate to each other! #i've seen translations of the daodejing that read like completely different books... #translation #jlrrt speaks