This copy of the Tao te Ching is edited and interpreted by Ursula Le Guin. This seems like it could be somewhat controversial, a new interpretation of a Chinese religious text written by a westerner who doesn’t read the language. But I do think she brought something to this edition I think in much the same way that Coleman Barks, a Tennessee native who speaks no Persian or Arabic, brought something new to his editions of the works of Rumi, a Sufi mystic and poet. I hesitate to call these new works translations, since they really are not being moved from one language to another but they do have a value in that they can bring these works to a new audience.
How do you "translate" something in a language you don't read? Is it an interpretation of a translation?
Yeah, exactly. It's an interpretation of others'translations. It's definitely a weird thing, and that's why I'd hesitate to call them translations, even though some of them claim to be "new translations."
You have inspired this:
http://www.free-blog.in/tao/89398/an+egg-laying+alien+species.html