When visiting the home page for the first time, or otherwise when you have no ongoing games, there’s a big empty space and I thought maybe this would be a good home for the Ten Golden Rules of Go. This led me down the rabbit hole of researching the plethora of translations and interpretations of these in an effort to present short translations that attempt to capture the essence in an aesthetically pleasing way that resonate with western players.
Below is a list that is derived from a lot of sources, but I’d love feedback from those in the community that like this sort of thing or otherwise have useful insights as I have no doubt improvements can be made.
Proposed idiomatic translations:
| # | cn | en |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 贪不得胜 | Don’t be greedy |
| 2 | 入界宜缓 | Invade cautiously |
| 3 | 攻彼顾我 | Protect while attacking |
| 4 | 弃子争先 | Sacrifice to gain initiative |
| 5 | 舍小就大 | Abandon small, save big |
| 6 | 逢危须弃 | When in danger, sacrifice |
| 7 | 慎勿轻速 | Good shape finds sente |
| 8 | 动须相应 | Play locally, think globally |
| 9 | 彼强自保 | Near strength, play safe |
| 10 | 势孤取和 | When isolated, seek peace |
Reasoning
1: Don’t be greedy
This is Youyi Chen’s pick and as a common phrase in English and it seems very approachable and easy to digest as opposed to a more literal translation such as “The greedy do not get success”, or “Don’t be greedy for victory”.
2: Invade cautiously
Elegant suggestion by @Conrad_Melville below , captures the essence of “don’t rush to invade your opponent’s territory” succinctly and balances visually against “Don’t be greedy” in terms of string length.
Only fools rush in
This comes from the London Go Center, and is a common proverb that I think resonates with the meaning even though the more literal translation may be more specific (but in my opinion are harder do digest), such as “Be unhurried to enter opponent’s territory”, “Move cautiously into contested areas”, “Enter your opponent’s sphere with caution”
3: Protect while attacking
Another good suggestion by @Conrad_Melville below (albeit the ‘yourself’ was dropped in favor of visual balance, and I think it still works well without that word)
Take care while attacking
This is an attempt at shortening the more verbose translations that are along the lines of “Take care of oneself when attacking the other”, “Be prepared when fighting”, “Attack while caring for yourself”, “Give consideration to his own stones when attacking”,
4: Sacrifice to gain initiative
A fairly straight forward shortening of the original translations that are along the lines of “Discard a stone to gain sente”, “Sacrifice to gain advantage”, “Sacrifice stones to gain initiative”
5: Abandon small, save big
Another fairly straight translation, originals being “Abandon small to save big”, “Give up the small; take care of the big”, “Abandon the small to save the big”, “Drop small, save big”
6: When in danger, sacrifice
Straight from Sensei’s, “When in danger, sacrifice”
7: Good shape finds sente
8: Play locally, think globally
Adjusted from @shamisen’s “Respond locally, think globally” simply in an effort to reduce character count so things are visually balanced while I think still captures the spirit pretty well.
Tactics follow strategy
Perhaps the most contentious new translation in the list is #8.
Youyi Chen interpreted this as “Always keep a global board in mind, moves at local areas of the board should be in concert.”, and others translations have a similar vibe: “Duet with strategy”, “Actions must be in harmony.”, “Actions must correspond to circumstances”. Another root of interpretation comes from Hideo Otake with his “tentative” interpretation of “Under your opponent’s attack, you should counter attack.” with other translations stemming from this “A move must respond to the opponent’s” and “Fight back, bow not”, but I’m inclined to think Youyi Chen captures the essence better. That said, “Always keep a global board in mind, moves at local areas of the board should be in concert.” is too verbose for my purpose and so in an attempt to distill it down into a short English phrase, “Tactics follow strategy” I hope to convey the implication that when you make local tactical moves, it should support and follow your overall board strategy, which I think resonates with Youyi Chen’s interpretation in a concise 3 word phrase.
9: Near strength, play safe
This comes from Tami’s l19 post which I think captured the meaning succinctly. Other interpretations were “When opponent is thick, safeguard yourself”, “Strong walls over weak stones”, “Against strong positions, play safely”, " When the opponent is strong, protect yourself", and more verbosely by Otake Hideo, “when opponent’s shape is thick, one should safeguard by making himself thick. Never get close to your opponent’s thick shape”.
10: When isolated, seek peace
A shortening from “Look for peace when isolated”, other translations: “Alone and outnumbered, seek a truce”, “When Isolated and Weak, Seek Balance”, “Look for peace in an isolated or weak situation”.
Sources
Youyi Chen’s translations:
London go club:
Regarding rule #9 by Beijing Nie Weiping Go Academy
Sensei’s
Tchan001
Tami’s paraphrasing
Kevin Chu
