The Bible Translator: Volume 24, Issue 3

Supports the position of James Barr in his two works by outlining his argument: the contrast between Greek and Hebrew thought, the semantic relation between thought and language; and secondly by summarizing the main arguments produced for and against Barr’s work. The author labels Barr’s position as eclectic structuralism, maintaining that languages are a very flexible means of communication and that mankind has a mutual basis of understanding, that Barr has been correct in encouraging theologians to seek the essential meaning of biblical passages from the sentences and larger meaning units. View Less

Discusses the importance of how to translate clauses, sentences and paragraphs. Suggests there is a distinct Hebrew vocabulary and also a distinctive Hebrew structure. The LXX translators understood this and tried to find a Greek way of saying what the Hebrew said in a different manner. By focusing on one problem, the use of direct and indirect discourse, concludes that an analysis of the discourse structure of Hebrew would clarify obscure passages and enables translators to produce more natural translations which are at the same time, more faithful to the original. View Less

Discusses two approaches to determining comprehension between two languages of Malaysia: Kelabit and Lun Bawang. (1) An examination of the differences in phonology, morphology and syntax. (2) Testing of Kelabit people to see how much of the Lun Bawang Scriptures they understand. The discussion of these two approaches concerns the method of determining comprehension, the results obtained and the conclusions arrived at. Concludes members of these same languages which present some difficulties for young people who are riot familiar with certain idioms but that there is no need for a new translation of Scriptures into Kelabit. View Less

Outlines some of the major papers at the conference, suggesting that 3 major centers of interest came to the fore during the conference: (1) Investigation of factors involved in translation. (2) All investigation of language-pair-oriented problems of translation. (3) The teachability and learnability of translating. View Less

Adds 16 more passages containing possible hina imperatives to the discussion by Morrice in The Bible Translator, 1972, 23(3). View Less