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Common
Translation Errors Overview
Reversing Concepts
Defective Part of a Whole
Commentary in Translation
Vague,
Meaningless Language
Stilted, Flowery Language
Commentary in Translation
 This is such a common category of mistranslation that it is hard
to pick one example. If you look at our comparisons of different English
translations to the Chinese, you
can see that most translators just can't help "explaining" Sun Tzu
instead of simply translating him. The only problem with this is that they
explain him incorrectly most of the time. What they usually explain is some
obvious, simple-minded interpretation of his method, but his methods are far
from obvious and never simple-minded.
The worst examples are when a translator doesn't like Sun Tzu's advice and
users his commentary to change it completely. One example comes at the end of Chapter 7, from another very
popular translation. In the original, Sun Tzu says, "Leave an escape
for a surrounded enemy." This is simple, straightforward advice. How is it
translated? The same line from the popular
translation:
"When you surround an army, leave an outlet free. This does not mean that the enemy is to be allowed to
escape. The object is to make him believe that there is a road to safety, and thus
prevent him fighting with the courage of despair."
Sun Tzu's contribution to this paragraph was the first line. The rest was
the translator's invention. Sun Tzu said nothing about not letting the
enemy escape. Indeed, the idea fails on simple logic. How can you leave an outlet for escape and not leave an outlet for
escape? Do you paint a tunnel on a rock wall like they used to do in the Coyote and
Roadrunner cartoons? Either there is a route for escape, which means people run
away instead of fighting, or there isn't, which means they fight with the
"courage of despair" (the translator's words, not Sun Tzu's). We can't have it
both ways.
It is also typical of translators "helping" Sun Tzu along without
understanding his system. This is about war, right? We can't let the
enemy get away, right? So Sun Tzu must not have meant what he said. Let's explain around it.
In this case, Sun Tzu meant what he said. Leave a way out, if only an honorable and
safe surrender. He consistently, throughout the work, is against battles
to the death. Even when such battles are won, they are simply too
costly. The translator saw a problem because he didn't
understand Sun Tzu. Sun Tzu didn't care about killing people. He
cared about controlling the ground and breaking apart opposition. You
can do both of these without killing an army.
This kind of mistranslation is what gives the Sun Tzu's The Art of War a reputation for offering
conflicting advice. |
