Poem 1 Translation Notes, Tao Te Ching

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I will be posting my notes while I translate Tao Te Ching into Bikol here.

Ideally, I should translate Tao Te Ching from its original Classic Chinese tongue, but since I do not speak that language nor study such language, I am limited only to the English translations as of the moment. There are several translations of it into English, and I find Derek Lin’s translation the most direct and free from most interpretations, generally based on his explanatory notes of his translation. But I will consult other translations as well in the future as I move from the draft translation to its final translation. As of now, I want to work on just one translation and then compare later with other translations to eliminate any personal interpretations that I may find or to give my own personal bent on the topic.

Poem 1
My first problem in this translation work is how to translate the word “tao”. My impression of the concept of “tao” is that it is something that cannot be uttered and grasped completely. For this reason, I cannot use the word “tao” in my translation because I would then be giving the concept its name. To give a name to a concept is to delimit its sense boundaries, to locate it within a semantic map or structure. But the concept itself is supposedly ungraspable. So I settled on the word “kuyan” as this word is used to mean something which one cannot really express, either because one has not understood it or one has forgotten its name. To be unable to name a concept or thing is to be unable to grasp it. I think that captures the very essence of the idea of “tao”.

And since it is something that one is unable to express, I used the word “tugaч” because it means not just to utter but also to reveal, with emphasis on the revelation part. “Taram” (to speak) is inadequate for this purpose. The poem is talking about something that one cannot speak because one has nothing to reveal, because one has not understood it in the first place.

I used “paluwas” to translate “manifestation” to refer to something that comes out of it, but not necessarily its exterior, which is “kaluwasan”. I think appearance is derived both from the manifestations and exterior, so my use of “paluwas” encompasses “kaluwasan”.

For the word “emerge”, I can use either “tuŋah”, “butwaч”, “sulpot”, “lataw” or “pahiliŋ”. I can’t use “lataw” as this implies coming unto the surface, which implies it is submerged. I can’t use “pahiliŋ” as it implies it could have been hidden from sight, with emphasis on the visual sense. “Butwaч” means to appear suddenly, but I don’t want to stress the suddenless aspect. “Sulpot” means to pop up or appear, which is more or less like “sulpot”. “Tuŋah” means to turn up or show up, which has the same implications as “pahiliŋ”. In the end, I used “guminikan”, which means to come from, to originate from, as I think the context here is more about its emergence.

My options for “unity” is either “pagkasararoч”, “pagkaburunyog”, or “pagkaburugkus”, all implying that they are in fact separate and individual things. But my understanding is that they are in fact a unity because they are one and the same thing, just one indivisible thing. So I translated it as “pagigiŋ saro”, being one.

As of now, my draft translation uses Tagalog words “sanlaksaч” (myriad), “nasaч” (desire), “hiwagaч” (mystery) as I cannot find yet their Bikol counterparts. I am also unable to find any word for “essence” in either Bikol or Tagalog, so I will use “kalaчogan” here, which means interior. To know the essence for me is to penetrate something, to be able to see the insides. But this is an imperfect translation because the interior is not by itself the essence.

So here is my first attempt at Poem 1:

1
Чan kuyan nah naчitutugaч bakoч чan minadanay nah kuyan
Чan paŋaran nah naчiŋaŋaran bakoч чan minahaloy na ŋaran
Чan daчiŋ ŋaran чan pinaggikanan kan laŋit чasin dagaч
Чan ŋinaranan чan чinaч kan sanlaksaч na bagay
Kayaч, pirmiŋ daчiŋ nasaч, namamasidan чan kalaчogan kaчinih
Pirmiŋ чigwaŋ nasaч namamasidan чan paluwas kaчinih

Чiniŋ duwah guminikan sabay чalagad magkaчibah sah ŋaran
Чan pagigiŋ saroч daчah чan kahiwagaчan,
Kahiwagaчan kan maŋah kahiwagaчan
Tatah kan gabos nah ŋaŋalasan

Being an Immigrant

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Being an Asian immigrant is hard in a European country. Some things need to be consciously thought out. Like culture for example. Do you retain your old culture or you blend with the new culture? Which culture is better? Do you evaluate totally or partially? If your original culture is lower in your evaluation, it makes you feel second class to yourself as a consequence. If higher, I question myself why am I not better than most of them, economically and physically. Whichever is higher, I tend to look down on the lower one. Blending with the new culture is psychologically hard too, since I have to lose my own culture and acquire a foreign culture. These thoughts taxes my self-image and my mind.

There are just things that I can’t do away with and transform myself into a European in a blink of an eye (and vice versa for any European). My past experiences/story, my language, my physical features, the people that I value (relatives and friends) all these I can’t really just chuck away. I value them just as I value the new friends that I am making and encountering.

So how am I coping right now, after 3 years? I settled on the thought that my culture and their culture are different and not to be compared. It’s like when I do not ask myself which is better, a hammer or a saw, or a stove or a washing machine. They exist for different purposes. There is no need then for wholesale rejection of my or their own culture. As a matter of fact, it made me appreciate my own culture better than before. There are also a lot of good things about my culture which I just need to supplement with the good points of European culture. I can use my familiarity with European culture to improve my own culture. Now I realized that no one culture is totally superior to the other, each can learn from the other. But what we can learn would depend on the person’s values and circumstances.

How one treats other culture depends on one’s exposure to it. At the minimum, what is needed is tolerance of other cultures. Tolerance is partial respect. Acceptance is more than partial respect. Adoption is total respect. All are acceptable reaction to a foreign culture as each is conditioned by the values and philosophies I have. Some aspects of European culture may be tolerated, accepted or adopted, the same way for Asian culture. Intolerance is not an acceptable reaction to any culture. In the first place, it’s not mine but theirs to live with. Although a compromise, this is the best course of action that I can think of, as I was able to retain my self-worth without lowering their self-worth in my eyes, which will drive how I will treat them.