That puts you at a notch above a beginner. Taught for a year? So
you're a long-termer then. Translations? Cid Corman felt that he could
translate from Classical Chinese with a dictionary, so I'll give you
that one too. There's nothing mystical in saying there are
differences. I don't maintain any mystical differences between East
and West either--but practical ones-- and there's a larger gap that
has to be accounted for when one translates between an Asian language
and a Western one than when one translates between a Western and a
Western. The difference in language systems is what I'm attempting to
address here, not political correctness--which is something you seem to
want to bring into this discussion. That's an easy subject to
consider. The harder is what makes kanji do what it does and if it can
act as a metaphor and in what contexts it does. That's a linguistic
matter and much more difficult--at least for me, to consider. Any help
on that subject would be appreciated. Jess
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