I didn’t understand Borges’ point here. That the translations seem completely disconnected from the source text, and only provide the general tone of it? > Or

I didn’t understand Borges’ point here. That the translations seem completely disconnected from the source text, and only provide the general tone of it? > Or take the explanation Borges gave for abandoning the Oriental studies he had begun around 1916: > Working with enthusiasm and credulity through the English version of a certain Chinese philosopher, I came across this memorable passage: ‘A man condemned to death doesn’t care that he is standing at the edge of a precipice, for he has already renounced life.’ Here the translator attached an asterisk, and his note informed me that this interpretation was preferable to that of a rival Sinologist, who had translated the passage thus: ‘The servants destroy the works of art, so that they will not have to judge their beauties and defects.’ Then, like Paolo and Francesca, I read no more. A mysterious scepticism had slipped into my soul.