Taoism vs. Daoism

[KenBrace]

From what I've gathered Taoism and Daoism are basically the same thing; just different translations of the Chinese word. I've heard a few people say they are a little bit different though. Are they?

Edited September 1, 2013 by KenBrace

[Marblehead]

From what I've gathered Taoism and Daoism are basically the same thing; just different translations of the Chinese word. I've heard a few people say they are a little bit different though. Are they?

Both are exactly the same. Taoism is based on the Wade/Giles translation system and Daoism is based on the Pinyin translation system. Phonetically, Pinyin is more accurate but I still generally use the Wade/Giles system.

[ChiDragon]

You mean Pronunciation System rather than a Translation System......???

[KenBrace]

You mean Pronunciation System rather than a Translation System......???

Yeah I guess. They're basically the same thing.

Edited September 1, 2013 by KenBrace

[ChiDragon]

If one understand the difference between these two systems, then, the question about Taoism vs Daoist wouldn't have had been asked. This question had been asked before....!!!

[Zhongyongdaoist]

What is really meant is a transliteration system in which the sounds of Chinese, which does not have letters like European languages, are represented as closely as possible in European style letters.

 

In the old style transliteration, there was not just "t", but "t'", and the apostrophe following the "t" affected the pronunciation, thus old style, T'ang Dynasty becomes pinyin, Tang Dynasty, and old style, Tao, becomes Pinyin, Dao. There was a similar distinction with some other letters like K/G and P/B. Thus Kung Pao shrimp becomes Gongbao shrimp. Most non-academic publishers did not understand the importance of that little apostrophe and left them out, which created even more problems.

 

The pinyin seems simpler and more in line with European pronunciation, but it is still not perfect, because there is a whole series of accents, which again are usually left off, but are necessary for distinguishing words that without the accents, which are necessary for correct pronunciation, are otherwise spelled the same in unaccented pinyin. This can create a very real ambiguity in an unaccented pinyin text.

 

I don't have time for much more now, but I hope that this is helpful.

 

 

Edit: added ', are represented as closely as possible in European style letters'

Edited September 1, 2013 by Zhongyongdaoist

[Rara]

Yeah, what these guys said

[Marblehead]

You mean Pronunciation System rather than a Translation System......???

Yes, I do mean translation system because not only do the words sound different, they are spelled different. (I do see you point thought and would likely have agreed with you had you spoke first,)

[Marblehead]

If one understand the difference between these two systems, then, the question about Taoism vs Daoist wouldn't have had been asked. This question had been asked before....!!!

But he wasn't here then. Hehehe.

[Marblehead]

I don't have time for much more now, but I hope that this is helpful.

Yes, you did better than I did. Thanks.

[ChiDragon]

Yes, I do mean translation system because not only do the words sound different, they are spelled different. (I do see you point thought and would likely have agreed with you had you spoke first,)

 

Even though you mean "translation". In that aspect, I would have agreed if the word "transliteration" was used.

 

This is a transliteration to me:

道: Tao, Dao

 

This would be a translation:

道: principle, path, way, reason

 

 

Edited to add:

......................................................

Edited September 1, 2013 by ChiDragon

[Marblehead]

Yea!!! We won!

[ChiDragon]

Yea!!! We won!

 

No, we didn't win but didn't lose....!!!

[steve]

You are all winners in my book - after all, you were just trying to help.

[Rara]