Hello, I have been looking to buy Sun Zi's The Art of War, but despite much research, I still don't know which translation to buy. From what I gather, the best versions out there are Roger T. Ames' and Victor H. Mair's, and I have been pretty much hesitating between these two for quite some time.
Do you have a preferred version? If so, which one? Why?
I have this one. It is translated by Lionel Giles. I used it for college classes and just an everyday read.
Sorry, only semi-relevant:
Wasn't Art of War only attributed to Sun Zi, and compiled from a few of his generals?
I don't have a favorite Sunzi translation, but I've spent years reading the Yijing and the Daodejing, and based on that I'd recommend getting two translations, preferably ones done many years apart (the Giles would be good for that, and I'm sure Arthur Waley has one too, doesn't he?) and comparing them.
It's not that long a book, and there's a lot to be gained from looking at how different people take different passages.
Oh, and I should also plug Wengu's collection of Chinese classics - they have an annotated Giles as well as Amiot's French translation of Art of War... but they also tend to have lots of fun little tools for the texts once you poke around a bit.
For instance, they link to the other online source I like to recommend, the collections of hyperlinked classics (including Sunzi) at Zhongwen.com. You can go character by character, clicking on each one for the meaning and etymology (which can be important when reading verses - like, did you know Sunzi's name can be translated as "Grandchild son"?).
That's not smooth reading, but it definitely reveals some depths of difficult passages.