ROTK-addict wrote:After looking at the comparison Lady Wu posted, I'm kinda confused which one to get now. It bothered me quite a bit when I saw the "So he regards me as a coward" and "So he regards me as a woman" part cause I think that's quite a big difference. Although my knowledge in written Chinese is quite limited but even in terms of spoken Mandarin, I've never came across with terms where both "coward" and "woman" use the same words. Maybe I shouldn't nitpick so much but perhaps anyone here that can give me an advice on which version would be better for me?
No, the the "coward" version is the web version, which is based on the CHBT translation. The original CHBT (as well as the Roberts) kept the "woman" part". When deciding between the CHBT and the Roberts, you are really considering the points James made:
CHBTPros:
- Stylized writing
- More of an "old-timesy-epic" feel
Cons:
- Uses Wade-Giles romanization
- No notes
RobertsPros:
- Notes galore and helpful commentaries and stuff
- Uses the more familiar Pinyin
- Slightly more modern style of writing; easier to read
- There's a dual-language edition which should be good for someone practising reading Chinese.
Cons:
- The 4-volume Foreign Language Press box set is full of typos
- The 2-volume University of California Press set is unwieldy. The notes are all at the end of volume 2, and there is no table of contents with the chapters listed (it's basically impossible to find a specific chapter in that edition).