Tale of Genji: A Book Review (What I really thought of the book) 

I suspect this classic novel would have been better served if the presenter had done a better job of organizing his material and eliminating the American slang. Show some respect.

I suspect the reputation of this great classic of literature will survive the rambling, incoherent “mea culpa” offered by Freelance Translator Tips, but Mr. Tips would have done better to remain silent.

I did read Tyler's 2 volume translation (I show it at the 1:40 mark or so), which I said I prefer to the Arthur Waley translation. And as I mentioned, this video is a "mea culpa" because I felt it had been incorrect of me, in a previous video, to only mention his hookups when, indeed, there was so much more to it. If you do watch my full video, I would love to hear your thoughts. I really found it a unique and interesting story, as well as a great peek into life in the Heian courts.

Cynthia Hawkins hi! I agree! I would love to hear your thoughts about it. What did your think about Genji and his “hookups”?

Genji is an ancient fuc boi

The presenter’s rambling style, lack of preparation, and annoying slang bordered on disrespect for a great classic.

Hi! Are you asking if I can do a video about specific dictionaries and terminology solutions? Well, I made one about the dictionaries and websites that I personally use here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-XPvv0T89keQ.html . Unfortunately, however, these can be very language-specific and also specialization-specific (so, different ones for different languages combinations, and also different ones for financial or medical or engineering, etc. etc.). So they will change depending on what you specialize in. But hopefully that video can help. I will also have a video out soon where I discuss more general strategies to follow when you need to look up terms and expressions you're not sure about.

Freelance Translator Tips Thanks ill watch

Here is the link! - amzn.to/36qRh3X

Actually I read 紅樓夢 when I was in Taiwan. Obviously I read a translation, but not by David Hawkes. Although I've since heard that his was the best translation. It's weird actually because Tale of Genji reminded me of 紅樓夢, although with 紅樓夢 you could get a sense of how their lifestyle was ending, while you don't get that impression with Tale of Genji. Also, very interesting talk in the video you linked. I can't watch the whole thing now, but I plan on doing so. Nice insight. Thanks!

Those are some great videos. I especially liked the one about Arthur Waley and Chinese Poetry as well as Herbert Giles and Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio.

By the way, i've gone out of my way to try to read the original. I first read through these (www.books.com.tw/products/0010697258) I use these as the main source (www.books.com.tw/products/0010374297) (www.books.com.tw/products/0010720005) I use this a commentary (www.books.com.tw/products/0010719750?loc=P_asb_002) All of them are available on Google Books if you are interested.

Oh, I should watch the Arthur Waley one. I just saw the beginning and he said he has a bombshell about his papers? I should probably watch the Herbert Giles one as well, since I know nothing about him. I assume he's the Giles from Wade-Giles.

I was thinking about your comparison of the 紅樓夢 and The Tale of Genji and thought that I might take a quote from David Hawkes book to show how fundamentally different they might be. Although all I can go off is your review of Genji. "The question as to whether or not the Bao-yu of the novel is a portrait of the author as a boy will be dealt with later; but certainly this dejected middle-aged man who concludes that the girls he had known in his youth were all "morally and intellectually [his] superior" has a good deal in common with the adolescent who thought that "the pure essence of humanity was all concentrated in the female of the species and that males were its mere dregs and off-scourings", who once observed of his female cousins that "if they, whose understanding was so superior, were manifestly still so far from Enlightenment, it was obviously a waste of time for him to go on pursuing it", and who, when he was a very little boy, used to maintain that "girls are made of water and boys are made of mud", and that only when he was with girls did he feel "fresh and clean". David really loves his long sentences it seems. "女兒是水作的骨肉 , 男人是泥作的骨肉 我見了女兒 , 我便清爽 ; 見了男子 , 便覺濁臭逼人"