"Three Character Clasic" translations

[lubaoliang]

Hello, I just recently got a small book titled "Three Character Classsic" and I´m starting to translate it to learn new characters.

This is the first sentence of one of the stories.

春秋时，百家争鸣，许多思想家就人生初期的本性问题展开过大讨论。

I think roughly it can be translated to:

"In the Spring-Autumn Period, when a hundred schools of thought contend, many thinkers started to discuss the issues of early life nature"

Is this correct? I know this book is meant for children, but I´m still no sure about the translation.

Thanks in advanced!

[rx_11]

Hello, I just recently got a small book titled "Three Character Classsic" and I´m starting to translate it to learn new characters.

This is the first sentence of one of the stories.

春秋时，百家争鸣，许多思想家就人生初期的本性问题展开过大讨论。

I think roughly it can be translated to:

"In the Spring-Autumn Period, when a hundred schools of thought contend, many thinkers started to discuss the issues of early life nature"

Is this correct? I know this book is meant for children, but I´m still no sure about the translation.

Thanks in advanced!

Good translation, lubaoliang!

Just a small revise needed. I think the thinkers in the Spring-Autumn was discussing some issues about humans' nature when in their early age, not the early life nature.(Well, to be honest, I'm not sure what early live nature is. If you mean so, forget my words )

Moreover, I think you should translate 百家争鸣 as an S-V-O action, not a time modifier. That is "In the Spring-Autumn, Period, hundreds of schools and thinkers contended, and they made big discusses on the issues about early life nature."

Well, forgive my poor English, I'm not a native English speaker. I think your translation is very good! Only some subtle differences from the original meaning.

Hope that helps

[lubaoliang]

Thank you for your fast reply rx_11!! It brought clarity to my mind. I think I´m going to continue to translate this and and then post a complete translation of the story so others can comment. I will keep you updated

[shc]

Hi, my suggestion for a less literal translation:

During the Spring-Autumn Period, when many schools of thought were in contention, many thinkers held major (or serious) discussions on whether humans are good or evil by nature.

I presume the passage you are attempting to translate is a reference to the first 2 lines of the three-character classic, which states that:

Humans, when they are born, are good by nature.

This refer to the Confucian school of thought, whereas other schools claim the opposite.