Customer Reviews

The Art of War: In Sun Tzu's Own Words (English and Mandarin Chinese Edition)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is an interpretive book, written and presented by Gary Gagliardi, loosely based on Sun Tzu's classic material.

One of the marketing angles used in this book is a "two for one" aspect in which the Chinese and English texts are presented side-by-side. The author asserts this is the most accurate translation of Sun Tzu's work ever attempted. This description of the text is highly debatable based on the merits of the text itself.

Mr. Gagliardi achieved his translation using an internet encarta program, in which a person can do a simplified character search in Chinese and see some of the interpretive meanings of each pictogram. A close review of this internet text that served as the basis for the author's translation shows that the resulting "translation" contains a number of errors; both large and small. Some examples of this are as follows:

In several areas of the book, you can spot minor typographical and spelling errors. Interestingly, the first one appears on the first page of the book where it reads "It translator, Gary Gagliardi..." instead of "Its translator,...". Some additional examples of these types of minor errors are as follows:

On page 16 (Chapter Two), the English word he uses for SHI in the Chinese text section is misspelled as "ttroops" instead of "troops"

On page 28 (Chapter Four), the English word he uses for YE in the Chinese text section is misspelled as "bvalso" instead of "also"

Normally, things like this would not bother me. But within his book, and on his website, Mr. Gagliardi makes some very bold claims regarding the accuracy of his translation. As he notes in his "foreward" [sic]:

"Even for those who cannot read Chinese, the internet makes it easy to translate the original Chinese characters. Sites display the Chinese text with links tying each character to Chinese-English dictionaries. Using the context and other translations to select the appropriate meaning for each character, I created my own character-by character translation." (p. ix)

"After I translated the characters, I discovered that every English translation embellished some of Sun Tzu's ideas while simultaneously ignoring others.... " (p. ix)

"To share the richness of the text with others, I offer two translations of Sun Tzu. The first is the character-by-character translation I developed in my study of the text. The second is a line-by-line translation of those Chinese phrases into English." (pp. ix-x)

"Through these techniques, we preserve the ideas of Sun Tzu's Chinese in an English translation that comes as close as humanly possible to capturing Sun Tzu's own words..." (p. x)

Unfortunately, Mr. Gagliardi's translation methods fail to account for certain Chinese concepts; including concepts that had a significant role and effect within Sun Tzu's writing. Some examples of this are the Chinese concepts of the DAO, and YIN and YANG. In Mr. Gagliardi's translation, the DAO is oversimplified as "philosophy" (pp. 2, 4, 8, 32, etc) and YIN and YANG are simply expressed as "North, shady hillside" and "South, sunny hillside" (p. 4). Effectively, the interplay of these Taoist concepts within the Art of War are ignored in favor of streamlined text. This is somewhat ironic, given Mr, Gagliardi's earlier concerns where he thought other translators ignored important ideas within Sun Tzu.

In certain areas, Mr. Gagliardi appears to have copied the wrong Chinese characters (lexemes) from the Taipei compilation which he used as the basis for his translation. This is readily apparent based on a line-by-line comparison of the characters themselves. Some examples of this are as follows:

On page 20 (Chapter Three), he appears to have erroneously copied the Chinese character BING (War), instead of the correct term JUN (Army), in two of the stanza.

On page 22 (Chapter Three), he appears to have erroneously copied the Chinese character YONG (use) instead of the correct term YUE (month) in two of the Chinese stanza.

In addition to the above translation problems, Mr. Gagliardi's single-word English choices are often debatable; occasionally, they appear wrong. For example:

On page 8 (Chapter One), in the last stanza, he translates the Chinese character ZHUAN as "pass." This leads him to mistranslate the entire stanza; BU KE XIAN ZHUAN YE, as "Don't pass it by." A more correct reading of ZHUAN in this lexeme coupling is "transmit." As other authors have noted, this Chinese stanza translates more closely to "Don't transmit your true intentions in advance."

This is certainly not a definitive work. It is far from it.

What is war? Is it waged on battlefields with strafing air strikes, or is it personal and economical achievements?

On the opening page Gary Gagliardi reveals a provocative view of war: "Whether you are a new graduate looking for a job or a business owner building a company, *The Art of War* will give you greater insight into achieving success in a competitive world. For over 2500 years, winners have profited from the ideas of Sun Tsu on how to avoid defeat and embrace victory." Gagliardi used these principles to build his own software organization that became a Fortune 500 private company and a very successful business that he sold. He knows what he is talking about.

Sun Tsu's Chinese symbols have been translated many times over the centuries. Each document is slightly different and may actually disagree with other version. I own two translations and have discovered the bane of all scholars -- the more you learn the more you realize you do not know.

The power of this adaptation is due to the meticulous work of Gagliardi's research. The translation for each character is printed on the left page, the English construction of the sentences are on the right. The delicate Chinese symbols are works of art that show nuances of each character are altered even by the slight difference in the angle of a line.

I will show the comparison of Chinese to English words and phrases from the section on Planning. I am not able to show the Chinese characters, but the punctuation between the thoughts is due to the grouping of the characters. Gagliardi provides a guide to increased understanding of the Chinese phraseology.

Chinese:

Make experience by five skills,

Learn it by planning, And yet demand this situation,

* Say philosophy,

* Say heaven,

* Say ground,

* Say general,

* Say methods.

English:

Your skill comes from the five factors. Study these factors when you plan war. You may insist on knowing the nature of:

1. Military philosophy,

2. The Weather,

3. The ground,

4. The commander,

5. And the military methods,

Sun Tsu addressed each of the following topics, which are separated by chapters for easy study: Planning, Going to War, Planning an Attack, Positioning, Momentum, Weakness and Strength, Armed Conflict, Adaptability, Armed March, Field Position, Types of Terrain, Attacking with Fire, and Using Spies. A Glossary of Chinese Characters is also included.

Why is this book beneficial? By applying these ancient principles, the awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of the workplace and of the competitors is understood. Understanding brings victory.

For me, the philosophies are applicable to writing and editing, financial and budget management, and time management (which I am completely unsuccessful at achieving due to my eclectic Gemini "fingers in every pie" life style).

Sun Tsu's philosophy is a code by which to live that brings personal power and success:

* Planning gives the advantage because it makes you think.

* Warfare is the philosophy of deception.

* Before you go to war, you must believe that you can count on victory.

* Unity works because it enables you to win every battle you fight.

Remembering that war is not limited to battlefields, it is easy to see: if one plans strategy, basis it on knowledge of the competitors, and believes they are capable to do whatever they set their mind to -- they will succeed.

2500 hundred years after Sun Tsu wrote *The Art of War* it is still a best seller. This version contains the full script of his words set up in an easy to read and understand format. The philosophy may seem simple, but the more you read the deeper your understanding will be.

This is, without doubt, five stars.

Victoria Tarrani

While the book is of great value itself, it is too short. Only parts of the original Sun-Tzu's Art Of War were tranlasted here, leaving you hunger for more.

I got this books as a gift. I'd read The Art of War before, but this book is much more interesting. The English translation is easier to understand, and "reading" the actual Chinese characters adds a lot of depth. You can see a lot more meaning in each line.

Gary Gagliardi is considered by many to be a leading expert in understanding and using the competitive methods embodied in Sun Tzu's treatise on the Art of War. A short visit to the Clearbridge web site is all it takes to understand why. Still, I wonder what I might be missing in the translation of the book. In this particular book (the author has written several based on Sun Tzu's work), the left hand pages have each Chinese character with the translated word next to it so that you have a word for word translation. The right hand pages contain a translation of the words into everyday English.

The problem with a translation of this style is one that has plagued translators for centuries and is the reason why there are so many slightly differing translations of Sun Tzu's work. If the author sees one Chinese character and wants to indicate the English word that this character translates to then what word does he pick? After all we have a Thesaurus because there are often many words that mean the same thing or almost the same thing such that choosing one over the other automatically colors the translation. What if there is no exact word in the English language? Well, you have to choose the closest one and that affects the translation. Sometimes words, even if translated exactly, do not give the whole essence of the concept in the original language due to cultural or other differences. Translators can't even seem to agree on something as simple as Sun Tzu's name! Is it Sun Tzu or Sun Tsu? You will find it transliterated both ways. With this in mind I was glad to see that the purchase of the book gets the reader access to the Clearbridge web site where they can see much more exhaustive analysis on the treatise.

Sun Tzu's treatise on The Art of War is really a treatise on competitive advantage that applies not only to actual war but such things as getting a job, marketing, and any other competitive situation that you might come across. A deep understanding of competitive advantage, it is still the definitive text for understanding the concepts of how to come out on top in such situations. An easy book to read and understand on a basic level, it can take a lifetime to truly appreciate in on all levels and apply it to the various areas of your life. This translation still seems to be one of the best that I have seen. It is internally consistent between the translated concepts and so shows a level of knowledge and detail that is not present in some other translations. As a translator the author obviously sees the big picture.

How can you possibly improve upon this timeless piece of literature? Well, Gagliardi seems to have done it! His translation is concise and to the point; none of the usual vague references found in much of the translations.This book is hot!

i have purcahsed several different verisons of this work and by far this version is the best, they offer comprehensive explanations and make it easy to understand and apply it to your every day life. by reading this book you can get a real feel of what the great sun tzu was trying to teach.

this book was written 1700 years ago, and still, now people still read it, and i think it's a great book that really makes you smarter, and it really makes me think that only the complicated chinese can express feelings that well, english is too young and simple.

i like the poetic value of this book it makes it so you want to read it more than once .deffinitly a good buy.

Magnificent translation! I was thrilled with the quality and ease of reading of this helpful and informative text. The accompanying access to business realted material via the internet is invaluable.