There is virtually no literature or material available in the Georgian language about Buddhism or from any Buddhist tradition. Recently, I discovered that a small local publisher printed a batch of the Mahayana Diamond Sutra and Heart Sutra in Georgian. They were translated from a mix of English and Russian resources (not Chinese or the back-translations/fragments of the Sanskrit version), which is obviously less than optimal.
The case is worse for the Pali Canon and texts from the Theravadin tradition in Georgian - not only are there none, but there is virtually nothing available about them either. So here is my question:
How justified would it be, for the sake of availability and dissemination, to translate the Dhammapada into Georgian from a reliable English version (unfortunately, I donāt know anyone here who has been studying Pali, at least to an extent at which they can produce worthwhile translations, and this includes me as well - Iām just now starting to go through A.K. Warderās book on the topic)? I am aware that this is less than optimal, and may result in a not so precise translation (PaliāEnglishāGeorgian, too many chains where many things can go wrong and result in something resembling a game of broken telephone), but I am trying to weigh the pros and cons and would appreciate some insight from more knowledgeable people.
Surely, this could be a good first step into cultivating a wider interest and availability? Even if imperfect (and it is bound to be imperfect since it would be a translation of a translation), it would be a starting point for something more comprehensive and fruitful. But then again, it could be better to do nothing than to end up with a well-meaning perversion of a very important piece.
Perhaps there are smaller and easier texts, with reliable English translations that would be a better starting point?
I am looking for some clarity on this, if it is even worth embarking on such a project.
If you were an academic publishing for a University press, they would almost certainly not accept a translation of a translation.
However itās much better to make a translation of a translation than to learn a little bit of Pali and just wing it. As long as you are honest about what you are doing and you have the skill to read English itās fine to do. It will certainly be better than many of the early English translations.
Itās not ideal, but you have to start somewhere. Just donāt use AI, please. And stick to a single English translation rather than making a mishmash of existing ones.
In fact, I believe that Bhante @Sujato prefers that people who donāt have Pali skills do English ā target language as long as they would otherwise be a qualified translator.
This is a personal project that is not related to academia in any capacity, so I think in that regard, it should be fine.
This is my rationale as well. Especially with a disclaimer that this is a translation of an English version, it should be fine. Itās only a matter of time that someone cranks out a terrible AI version and does more ādamageā than I could ever do doing this. I have stumbled upon a Georgian Zen page on Facebook that already a few months ago posted a few excerpts (3-4 sentences) from the Dhammapada clearly translated using AI, with AI-generated commentaries. It is horrid.
Of course, and this leads me to the question of which version would be the best to use in this case? Because clearly, there are quite a few.
There is another big problem of terminology that would have to be translated and transliterated into Georgian for the first time. It is a whole project on its own, to be undertaken probably before starting the Dhammapada at all. The language is so deeply rooted in Christianity, with much of the terminology being informed by Orthodox theology, that this would probably be the hardest part of the endeavor. Any tips on how to manage this would also be appreciated.
Honestly, Dhammapada (despite being deep and intricate on its own), is rather one of the texts with the least amount of doctrinal controversies, in my experience. Iāve seen many verses from SNP, prose from Nikayas, etc, driving doctrinal debates, but not many from DHP.
What Iām trying to get at is that, I donāt think the differences of expression between different translators are going to matter as much as it would with a more doctrinally dense, scholastic text. So, you should pick the one where you connect the most with the translator, in-and-outside the text (probably what you should do in any case!).
I would advice against it. Again, both because DHP is easy on the doctrine, and because you wonāt know what you need until you plunge into the project. And you donāt want to get lost theorizing and never having done any translation because you didnāt find the perfect translation for sankhara, for example.
Thereās several ways to slice a cake.
I would suggest, if itās your first time translating a text (and especially if itās an ancient, sacred text like this), have little expectations of yourself. Donāt try to āfinishā it, treat it like an extended sutta study, and hack at it piece by piece.
If you ever get to the point of finishing the entire thing, then you can start to worry about getting things just right, and starting to consider presenting it to the public.
Although again, DHP is such that there are quite a lot of standalone verses that are inspirational. Doesnāt hurt to share these early on, I suppose.
Most importantly - just work at it! No amount of preparation beats actually doing the work and putting it out for feedback.
I appreciate you taking the time for this response. I agree on all points.
I got the same impression, to be frank. I have read 2 separate editions (and bits and pieces from some others) and I wouldnāt say that they are fundamentally different in how they treat the original material, so I hope this would have the same result for the Georgian counterpart. But still, I wanted to make sure there wasnāt something I had missed.
Very true. I do have a tendency to be very nitpicky write and rewrite ad infinitum, so this is a good thing to keep in mind. Otherwise, I know I am going to end up with 23 footnotes for one term like I have before with other projects.
But I do want to raise an important question, and this topic is treated differently by different translators (which may mean that it is a matter of personal preference?): is it better to translate the key terms (e.g. dukkha, samsara, etc.) or to simply leave them as is, transliterate them and add explanatory footnotes to avoid misinterpretation?
Yes, you are right, so I will get into it. I would still appreciate different perspectives on this matter, of course.
And as a P.S., this would not be my first time translating; I have done so from different languages at various points, and the material has been quite diverse ranging from political to environmental. So I suppose that makes things a bit easier.
I would say, just translate them. What Iāve done for my TherÄ«gÄthÄ translation, which I was in a similar boat because there was little established Turkish translation for key terms - if youāre going to end up publishing it, include a glossary for what Georgian words you used for PÄli terms, and give a rough dictionary definition.
I think I forgot the very opening lines of DHP, which is slightly controversial in-and-of itself. Thatās probably the hardest part, to be honest.
If I may ask, since you seem to be acquainted with translation-related topics, do you use OmegaT? Or just Word/Google Docs? I usually default to Google Docs due to familiarity and versatility, but I know OmegaT is frequently used by translators. There is a bit of a learning curve so I wonder if itās worth learning and using.
Greetings @kartulidhamma , this sounds like a beautiful idea. Itās great that someone of a country with no Buddhist tradition is motivated to start making these teachings available to their compatriots. Itās also very helpful that you have already some experience in translation.
In my own language, German, we are in a quite different and very lucky situation that we do already have translations of large parts of the Buddhist canon. However some of them are about 200 years old and donāt feel very accessible to many modern readers. Other translators have used word creations that for them seem to render certain Pali terms in appropriate ways, but these words donāt actually exist in German, and especially for modern, and younger, readers they are not easy to make sense of (even for me, and Iām not so young).
After having studied these translations for a while, at some point I discovered newer English translations, like those of Bhikkhu Bodhi, and later also Bhante Sujatoās, and from then on left the old German translations to one side and only read the English ones. While Bhante Sujato undertook his translation project, there was the opportunity to ālook over his shoulderā, so to speak, while he was doing it, since he wrote many translation essays which are published here on the forum.
So with all this, I started feeling that it would be really great if I could share this new experience with the Buddhaās teachings with my German Buddhist friends who donāt understand English. I actually expected one or the other of the established German translators to set to work and create something similar in Germanābut this didnāt happen. So finally I ended up starting a translation project myself.
I am no Pali scholar, and as I wasnāt that young any more when I started considering such a project, I thought, "I might still have enough life time left for either study Pali very well or translate the canon into German, but not for both. Hmm ā¦ And after considering all sorts of aspects I opted for the translation project, for the following reasons:
At the time I was looking after my elderly mother who had a medical condition that was emotionally very demanding, and I felt I need something that brings joy to my heart and helps me balance this situationāand that was not Pali grammar study.
Bhante Sujato had written so many translation essays and discussed his thought process that led to certain translation choices, and unlike most of the older German translators who have passed away, he is still around and does answer questions. He has done a lot of Pali study, and I can benefit from his (and otherās) work.
I also hoped that my understanding of Pali would improve as I go along, which is indeed the case; although I would still not consider me an expert.
At that time the SuttaCentral team was building the translation software Bilara for the purpose of making the creation of new sutta translations easier, even for people who arenāt perfectly knowledgeable in Pali. This software allows you to view the Pali root text, Bhante Sujatoās (or, meanwhile, other translatorsā) aligned translations, and a column for your own translation side by side and compare the existing English translation with the Pali line by line as you are working. Also, after you have done a certain number of texts, Bilara shows you how you have translated a similar passage previously, which helps to create a translation that is very consistent across collections.
And finally I felt this is the best way for me to make a contribution that benefits both myself and others.
Well yes, so it happened that I started my translation project.
Your thought to start with the Dhammapada makes a lot of sense from the perspective of your potential audience. The Dhammapada is probably the most translated of all the Buddhist collections, and many people, even non-Buddhists, find it inspiring.
On the other hand, verse collections are more difficult to translate than prose because they often use unusual words or grammatical forms and irregular syntaxāeither for poetic reasons or simply to fit the meter. So from the translatorās perspective it might also be useful to gain some experience with prose texts first. But probably what matters most is what you feel inspired for! You should definitely feel inspired when doing Dhamma work!
Thereās still another thought, since your intention is to give Georgians an easier access to the Buddhaās teachings: Bilara does not only help with actual sutta translation, but the entire interface of the SuttaCentral website is available in Bilara for translation into the languages of the world. If you look through the site, you will find a lot of material that accompanies the actual canonical texts, like many essays and other information. Also the entire navigation interface, view options, etc. can be translated. Having this available in your own language will allow you to make much better use of the siteās resources.
If this is something that interests you, it would not only allow Georgians to navigate SuttaCentral easier, but it would also allow you to make yourself familiar with all this information that is available around the canon, and to get a better feel perhaps for how to put certain things in your own language.
I donāt know what exactly OmegaT is, but just to make it clear: In case you are considering to publish your work on SuttaCentral at some point (in which case it would indeed be recommended to use Bilara), your translation cannot be accepted if it is created with the help of AI.
This is the case for whatever has been translated into Georgian so far from Asian philosophy and theology. ISKCON has translated (of course, sourced from their founder A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and hisā¦ questionable interpretations and commentary) much of the Hindu texts into Georgian, which has resulted in a concoction of oddly placed diacritics (which are completely alien to Georgian), noun combinations and compounds and so on. This makes the formulations less clear and obfuscates the meanings of the verses (e.g. the Bhagavad Gita in Georgian, of course based on BSPās other translations, has many confusing lines of commentary and questionable translation choices, which I only discovered after reading other editions in other languages).
Isnāt that the truth, haha!
Also, I am truly sorry to hear of your motherās situation.
I did stumble across a few discussions here mentioning Bilara, but I was not quite sure what it was. I may be a Gen Z-er, but I am surprisingly not very tech-savvy when it comes to such things. But it sounds like an amazing tool and exactly what I am looking for! I will take time to familiarize myself with it and if i can, use it for my translation. I am relying on Bhante Sujatoās translation of the Dhammapada too (using Buddharakkhita Theraās BPS version as a cross-reference), so using Bilara only makes sense then!
Duly noted, and this is something I will look into.
It is just something I came across while researching some line-by-line translation softwares; it uses neural networks and is good for context preservation and integrating a personal dictionary (which would be especially useful for Pali, as I would have to come up with completely new words/equivalences for some key concepts). It does have AI integration, but it does not inherently use AI and it is completely optional as to what extent you use it. Personally, I am against using AI for translation work, especially when it comes to such documents, for a variety of reasons I am sure have already been discussed here, so that would not be an issue.
Thank you so much for such a lengthy response Venerable, your perspective is greatly appreciated and you have truly given me some enlightening pointers.
Great! In order to look into the Bilara projects, you need to be logged in to an account on GitHub; meaning you would have to create an account (a username and password are required, no credit card or such).
Bilara is integrated into SuttaCentralās GitHub repository where all the root texts and translations are hosted, and as soon as a translator commits a line of translation in Bilara, this will automatically be saved in the repository. From there it can be published to the website once the translator is happy.
For each translator, a project needs to be set up in Bilara. Then you will get write access to your own project. First of all, you will need Bhante @sujatoās consent to your project.
Well, I am from a different generation, and I have written my first email when I was, I think, 48? I came to SuttaCentral with hardly any tech knowledge, but learning to use Bilara wasnāt too hard. If you have any questions regarding this, I am always happy to help.
Your intention is admirable. May the project bring joy to both you and your audience.
Regarding which version of the English to use:
He is still alive and happy to answer questions about his translation choices. Also, you can write to him here to ask his permission to do the translation and have it posted on SuttaCentral.
Leaning Pali would be helpful. As Ven @sabbamitta said, to be an expert in Pali takes time, which many of us donāt have. However, knowing basic grammar and lexicon could be helpful to understand Bhanteās explanation when you have queries about his translation choices.
As for Pali words that donāt have equivalent in your language, SuttaCentral has the annotation along side the translation. Apart from providing background info on the sutta based on Bhanteās, you could use it to explain essential Pali words (such as dhamma, nibbana, samadhi, jhana) as well as additional background info that you deem necessary for your reader to understand the sutta more easily.
Would you kindly advise how to go on about this? Is sending a simple message in private on this website acceptable? I did create a GitHub account and looked around, and checked out Bilara too and familiarized myself with the guide for translators and the relevant documents. It seems like this would be the best tool to use, and even if incomplete or unpublished in the end, at least it gives me and maybe someone else in the future a starting point. But I am pretty determined to make this happen!
Also, would it be advisable to start a separate thread, perhaps in the translation category, where I can post all the relevant questions underneath? Not even 4 verses and 1 hour in, I already have a lot of questions, haha!
Thank you in advance. Metta!
Of course, this makes plenty of sense and I am trying my best to learn as much as I can with the available resources, I feel very privileged to have access to the internet and this forum, which provides so many invaluable insights. Thank you!
It brings me much joy to read this thread. Unfortunately most of my foreign language skills are at ārestaurant menuā level, so I will rejoice in all the translators good work.
Iām not sure if you have seen the free Pali course coming up. It might work for your timezone, depending on your other commitments. The first session in your local time is 2026-03-08T07:00:00Z (converted automatically to your browserās time)
There are dozens of English translations of the Dhammapada available, and the right choice really depends on the kind of lens you would want to bring to the text if you yourself were working directly from the Pali. Broadly speaking, existing translations fall into five categories, depending on what the translator has chosen to prioritize:
1. Philological precision ā Translations that give primacy to comparative Middle Indic philology. Examples include those of Max MĆ¼ller, K. R. Norman, and Ven. Änandajoti.
2. Commentarial fidelity ā Versions that assume the correctness of the TheravÄda Dhammapada Aį¹į¹hakathÄ and translate largely in conformity with its word glosses. Examples: Rev. NÄrada, John Ross Carter and Mahinda Palihawadana, the Burma Sasana Pitaka Association.
3. Doctrinal synthesis ā Renderings informed chiefly by the broader Early Buddhist Texts, shaped by the translatorās grasp of EBT doctrines and worldview. Examples: Ajahn Thanissaro, Gil Fronsdal, Glen Wallis.
4. Non-Buddhist reinterpretations ā Translations guided by commitments to alien, un-dhammic ideas. Examples include the Vedantic renderings of Dr. Radhakrishnan and other Hindus, Juan Mascaroās Perennialist version, and countless adaptations aimed at appealing to New Age sensibilities.
5. Idiosyncratic ventures ā Works that seem not to be informed by any clear principles, beyond the conviction āI can do better than my predecessors.ā The most notable case is Thomas Byromās best-selling but, from a scholarly perspective, hopelessly unreliable translation.
I was waiting to see where youād categorise this strangle little publication from Ajahn Munindo! It slots somewhere in the last three categories- itās not quite The First Free Women of Dhammapadas. It appears on free distribution shelves wherever I go. Itās been translated into all sorts of languages. It wouldnāt be my recommend starting point.
I only mentioned the ones that Iāve actually read. Hence the non-inclusion of, say, Bhante SujÄtoās, which I havenāt yet got around to. Iāll take a look at Ajahn Munindoās later.
Iād definitely place it in Category 4: āNew Age sensibilitiesā
I say that not as a criticism but as someone on whom the book was highly influential when I was slowly drifting away from āBuddhist Romanticismā and towards the Thai Forest Tradition.
Again, both because DHP is easy on the doctrine, and because you wonāt know what you need until you plunge into the project. And you donāt want to get lost theorizing and never having done any translation because you didnāt find the perfect translation for sankhara, for example.
No amount of preparation beats actually doing the work and putting it out for feedback. 
And after considering all sorts of aspects I opted for the translation project, for the following reasons:
I came to SuttaCentral with hardly any tech knowledge, but learning to use Bilara wasnāt too hard. If you have any questions regarding this, I am always happy to help.