Re: Dao De Jing [was Re: Promoting Lojban]

[Lin Zhemin <ljm@ljm.qqjane.net>]

Sat, 20 Feb 1999, zo Robin Turner(robin@Bilkent.EDU.TR) cusku di'e
> Well, no one's been put off translating the Dao De Jing into just about every other language, so
> why should Lojbanists be so humble?!

I know there's a nice translation in English, but it is still far from the
original one. Even the translation in modern Chinese is weird. :(

>  Also, as recent postings indicate, ther'es nothing to stop
> Lojban incorporating different logics, not just the "Greek" style.  If Lojban were simply an
> attempt to put language into an Aristotelean straightjacket, I for one would never bother to
> learn it.

I'm afraid that you may be wrong here. Since Lojban is firstly defined to
test the Sapir-Wholf theory, let's assume it be true first. Since Lojban is
based in predicate logic, it derives all limitation and implicities of it;
thus Lojbanists' way of thinking are limited by the logic. And the logic,
as implied by the word itself, is something invented by Greeks. I know that
Lojban's endless (:-)) gismu combination can partially solve the problem
(while adding some ability to be ambiguous at the same time), its structures
are still fixed. Don't be sad here. It's just that if the Sapir-Wholf is
right. The arbitrarity of language just cannot get itself out of the
language.

> {zo'o} and maybe a stack of those Han dynasty commentaries!.  Go for it, Lin!

I'd say sorry that, maybe I'm a bit good in ancient Chinese literature and
some philosophical works, I'm not good in lojban. And there is no "precise"
translations of those works in modern Chinese (though I can read it in
ancient Chinese. But since the experts cannot translate it, how can I? :-))
And the most important is that I'm lazy. I never forget that I owe Bob a
Chinese version of lojban brochure. It is not completed yet in many years..
:Q


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