Need help translating a book cover

[spermaharen]

Hi all,

 

I would really appreciate if you could help me translate a book cover (The importance of living) by Lin Yutang.

 

I am thinking about getting the cover as a tattoo since a close friend of mine passed away and this was the last book I got from him. But I would prefer to know what it means before putting it in ink.

 

Here is a link to the cover.

 

http://www.chinarhyming.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/The-Importance-of-Living.jpg

 

 

Thx

Carl

[Kenny同志]

The book is often translated as 生活的藝術 which literally means The Art of Living. I don't think it is a good tattoo.

 

If you want something similar in meaning and appropriate for your purpose, consider 道, i.e. the way or art of doing something. For example, 生活之道 is the way of living, or in idiomatic English the art of living. 

 

Though 生活之道 is close in meaning to The Importance of Living, I'd choose 道 if I were you. It's better in many ways.

[li3wei1]

I'm sorry to hear that your good friend passed away.

 

I'm confused. He gave you a book in English, and you want to get a tattoo of the cover (or just the title?) of the book. Why do you want to translate it into Chinese? Because it was originally written in Chinese? Did your friend read it in Chinese? This would be a bit like people translating biblical phrases into Aramaic, or whatever they were originally written in, before getting them tattooed.

 

The good people of this forum have warned thousands of people against getting tattoos in a language they, and most people around them, don't understand. Think long and hard. Maybe there is a better way of remembering your friend than permanently putting something you can't read on your body.

[roddy]

I think the OP is considering a tattoo of the image in the centre of the cover and is asking what it means. 

[Lu]

I haven't read the book (though I keep planning to), but isn't there something in the book itself, something you can do, some ritual or passtime you can enjoy, and that you can enact in memory of your friend? Rather than tattooing something, consider regularly contacting the friend's loved ones and reminiscencing together. That will probably be much more useful and healing to everyone involved.

 

Either way, sorry about your loss, I wish you all the best.

[Kenny同志]

Because it was originally written in Chinese?

 

 

Nope, in fact the book was originally written in English.

[spermaharen]

Thank you for all the replies and thoughts, just as roddy says I am considering a tattoo of the image in the centre of the book cover, so I would like to know what it means.

 

Since the book really encapsulates how my friend looked at life, and me too, I think it would be a nice daily reminder to keep living life in the way that is laid out in the book. It is not so much having something in Chinese that I am interested in it just so happened to be the last book he gave me and I dont want an english text, already have those on my body

 

Thank you Lu for your thoughts, just keep in mind that you actually can do all of what you proposed while still having the tattoo

 

Anyway if someone knows what the image in the center of the book cover means I would be very grateful.

[Lu]

Thing is, I tried decyphering the chop in the center of the cover but I can't read it. It doesn't say Lin Yutang, and it also doesn't seem to say 'the importance of living' or 'the art of living'. If you have the book near you, does the colophon or the back say anything revelant about the cover design?

 

Also, I just noticed your username. Please tell me you're not Dutch...

[Angelina]

从右向左：有不为斋（有不爲齋）

“为”是做的意思。有的事违背自己的原则，不该做，就不做。“斋”是一种房间称呼，多用来读书、祭祀、悟道。

“斋”是个房子的称呼，最初是祭祀的地方，后来指文人读书的房间。文人给自己的书房起名字，往往就叫“xx斋”，“xx居”

〔有不为〕〔斋〕，这么断句

不做违背自己的原则的事

"don't do anything against your principles"