Which Palicanon translation to use?

Exploring the Dhamma, as understood from the perspective of the ancient Pali commentaries.
anando
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Re: Which Palicanon translation to use?

Post by anando »

Hello,
it´s not only importand which translation of the Pali-Conon is well done.
The quality of translation depends on the qualifikation in Pali, from the translater.
As i know from the translation of Kai Zumwinkel, that he´s translating a version of Pali-Canon that is based on fairy-tales und sagas.
The second german edition is from K.E. Neumann. For being adoctor of indology und several travellings to cloisters in Shri Lanca and London, he also
embodied the historicals facts that were found out of this time.
In his language he is very precise.
I don´t know no Englisch translation so i can´t esteem the value of these translations.

anando
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Kare
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Re: Which Palicanon translation to use?

Post by Kare »

anando wrote:Hello,
it´s not only importand which translation of the Pali-Conon is well done.
The quality of translation depends on the qualifikation in Pali, from the translater.
As i know from the translation of Kai Zumwinkel, that he´s translating a version of Pali-Canon that is based on fairy-tales und sagas.
The second german edition is from K.E. Neumann. For being adoctor of indology und several travellings to cloisters in Shri Lanca and London, he also
embodied the historicals facts that were found out of this time.
In his language he is very precise.
I don´t know no Englisch translation so i can´t esteem the value of these translations.

anando
I respectfully disagree. I have just finished my Norwegian translation of the Majjhima Nikaya from the Pali, so I can claim some knowledge of the Pali text. When I compare different translations, I find that Kai Zumwinkel's German translation of the Majjhima Nikaya is very clear and precise. Can you tell me which version of the Pali Canon that is based on fairy-tales and sagas?
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reflection
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Re: Which Palicanon translation to use?

Post by reflection »

To answer the original question, what is considered the best of course has no single answer. Also there is no gold standard. But if it were up to me, I do very much like the German translations by Nyanatiloka, Nyanaponika and Zumwinkel. Although I'm by all means no pali expert, in general they seem to me more consistent and direct than other translations I've found so far. However, I do like to read multiple translations and I think that's the best way to go about it, other than reading it fully in Pali.



edit: I see now this thread is already about a year old. Don't know if this advise is still useful, but here you go.
Ananda26
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Re: Which Palicanon translation to use?

Post by Ananda26 »

Alobha wrote:Hey everyone,

I decided that i want to study the palicanon in english from now on. Almost all dhammatexts I read are english and I rarely felt comfortable with the german translations of the palicanon.
So I wonder if people could give me advice on which palicanon translation is considered the "best".
For the start i'm looking for good translations of the Samyutta Nikaya, Digha Nikaya and the Majjhima Nikaya.

Are the translations of Thanissaro Bhikkhu the "Gold standard ?
A flaw I encountered in german translations is the sometimes inconsistent or unclear translation of paliterms. I'd prefer a consistent use of terms or, even better, an index for chosen translation for core paliterms. For example if dosa is sometimes translated as hatred, sometimes as ill-will, sometimes as rejection, sometimes as grudge then I find it hard to learn the more systematic connections.

So, if you have any experience what's not just good for a good read, but actually useful for learning about the Dhamma systematically, i'd appreciate your input!

Best wishes,
Alobha
The most recent full translations of those 3 are Long Discourses of the Buddha, Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, and Connected Discourses of the Buddha. All 3 of these have been published by Wisdom Publications.
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mikenz66
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Re: Which Palicanon translation to use?

Post by mikenz66 »

Bhikkhu Bodhi's new translation of the Numerical Discourses (AN) appeared in 2012:
http://www.wisdompubs.org/book/numerica ... ses-buddha
http://www.palitext.com/palitext/tran.htm

:anjali:
MIke
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