There's a Chinese phrase, 无字天书, that refers to some mystical book without words in it. It's been used as a plot device in some cultivation novels I believe. My question is: How would you translate "无字天书" into English so that the phrase sounds as cool as it does in Chinese?
You should emphasize more on the heavenly book part than the wordless portion. Prophetic Book of the Heavens? Prophetic as it is wise and give you the answers that you need. Which is what the Wordless Heavenly Book does.
If I recall correctly, 无字天书 is a phrasing that refers to a book that will teach you everything and all about the world (i.e. all kinds of martial arts, knowledge, skills, etc.) rather than a holy book without words. (But I maybe wrong ;;; In my opinion, rather than literally translating it into like "The Heavenly Book Without Words", maybe you could try for something else that emphasizes the meaning of it being 'heavenly' and 'containing knowledge about the world'. For example, "The Heavenly Book of Knowledge", or something of sorts. Hope it helps!
Wordless book of heavenly secret. The context is, some knowledge is so profound, that human languages does not have the capability to express it.
I don't think the 無字 part is meant to be taken literally, rather it refers to the fact that since it's come down from the heavens, mortal man cannot fathom it. So maybe stick to the esotericism of the thing and call it something like Celestial Arcanum or something like that.
火灾现场。This thread is disastrous. 天书是闭着眼睛都的。 in the past 天书 are books written in 梵文，which no one understands it. currently we called 天书 as books that is really hard to understand. I'll write a sentence. 那本书实在是太难了，感觉我简直是在看天书。 That book is too difficult for me to understands, I feel as if I'm reading Arabic. another example. 这本书对我来说就是个無字的天书。This book is like a blank piece of paper to me, as I can't read any words written on top. see this Level #10, it's got nothing related to heaven. Maybe, As hard as reading a Grimoire? you chunni...... this will be your dark history 10 years later. "I am dark flame master" It's used as a metaphor -1 for me you got the first 13 words right. not to be taken literally. And it's nothing like that.
If you still have some questions and If you feel that I'm not a reliable source ask @dhRPGamer and @fengharry both of them are native. 'Edit: after browsing the internet, closed book seems to be very close to the original meaning. But the grammatical usages seems to differs, as different language have different grammar.
无字天书 just means it has no words. And the deep meaning need readers to guess. I think "The Unwritten Book of God" is OK.
I thought it means words in a book you don't understand lol. Some how that how I always use it as. Maybe meaning changed.
Um.. You guys are over complicating this.. In ancient china, it would mean books written in invisible ink In modern times, it means a vwry hard to understand book , think like phd level books or something From your context I'm 99%sure it's the modern usage. You could try using profound, cryptic , obscure, abstruce, but it's not literally going to be a book title.
lol i meant that like, i doubt modern writers are going to be talking about invisible ink text, especially in cultivation novels where things are usually in talismans or Jades or something thats bloodbound to you