The Bible Translator: Volume 69, Issue 2

In this paper, I ask the question, not what level (word, clause, discourse) a particular theory of translation addresses, but at what level translation occurs. I problematize the notion of levels of translation and explore, even if only briefly, how translation is an endeavor that spans the rank scale from word group to discourse and beyond. View Less

In Western scholarship, descriptions of translation have emphasized instrumentality and outcome, leaving one to wonder where the translator as human being is in this product-oriented field. Bible translation is equally affected by this tendency. In fact, recent developments affecting the Bible translation mission, including an infusion of funding which comes with a focus on technology and the expectation of increased speed to product, make questions about the translator and translation as process all the more acute. This essay suggests that a perspective on translation has been lost or obscured, and seeks to look at translation “from the other side”—the side of anthropology, which allows translation to be (re)considered as a serious human endeavor, a feature of human life-in-movement, a meaningful and meaning-making process. View Less

The story of the Gbaya Bible begins with the first translation efforts of the early missionaries and the first Gbaya Christians. As the language was being standardized, the New Testament was translated and the Christian church was being planted. The second generation of translation was carried out by an interconfessional team of mother-tongue speakers who followed the principles of dynamic equivalence and Gbaya oral literary style. Shifting toward functional equivalence as they developed the language, their effort culminated in the publication of the Bible with the Deuterocanon. The third generation is represented by today’s community of Gbaya theologians and scholars who build on their predecessors’ use of the Gbaya language, employing it for the creation of written literature, for theological discourse, and for academic commentary. As they exploit the resourceful features of Gbaya expression, they continue to press the communicative world of the Gbaya ancestors into a future without bounds. View Less

This article makes a case for properly defining “Bible translation” as nothing less than the preparation of a study Bible. Rendering the text of a biblical book into another language without providing the reader with adequate tools for understanding that text within its ancient culture is providing only half the material necessary for the work to be called a “translation.” The article seeks to illustrate the thesis by example from the book of Haggai and the several difficult issues it raises, issues that inevitably cause deep concern for serious readers of the Bible—the nature of God, the relationship between natural crises and human behaviour, the writer’s use of hyperbole while attributing everything written as coming from the godhead. View Less

Interpreting as a form of mediated interlingual communication can be traced back to the third millennium B.C. in the secular sphere. In the Bible Nehemiah 8 shows how Hebrew passages were rendered into Aramaic. Luther’s translation (1984) of Neh 8.8 is compared in the article with RSV (1952), NRSV (1989), and the Russian Tolkovaja Biblija (1904–1907/1987). The emergence of targumim can be attributed to the need to render Hebrew texts into Aramaic, especially in the synagogue service. The Babylonian Talmud acknowledges this as established practice and gives elaborate instructions as to the correct way of delivering the targumim. They are often interpretive to an extent that far exceeds the bounds of translation or even paraphrase because the interpreter (meturgeman) had to transmit the teachings of the rabbi to the common people by placing the original text into a wider context or by amplifying and explaining it. View Less

Seventeenth-century Muslim scholar Khatun Abadi, commissioned by his shah, was the first native speaker to translate the Gospels into Persian. The goal was an accurate rendition, accompanied by notes intended to address contradictions and false claims of Christians. The translation was completed in 1703 but first published in 1995, in Iran. Understanding translation to be an act of interpretation, this study asks if we can trust a translation made by someone who does not accept the interpretation of the community that calls the text scripture. Based on analysis of translator notes, translation deviations from its Arabic base text, and the choice of key terms, the study concludes that the translator maintained the text’s integrity with few exceptions but that his notes are problematic from the perspective of the Christian community. Lessons are suggested for Christian translators who work with persons of other faiths or prepare renditions to be used by them. View Less

George Henrik Werndly’s work in Malay grammar, literature, and Bible translation can be understood and explained in the context of late seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century natural philosophy, especially natural philosophy in the spirit of Newton. The Dutch natural philosopher Lambert ten Kate, who was deeply influenced by Isaac Newton, is one of the main channels through which the ideas of the natural philosophy tradition reached Werndly. Ten Kate had applied the methodologies of natural philosophy to linguistics in ways that inspired Werndly to follow the same approach in his grammar of Malay. View Less

Translating metaphors is one of the most prominent areas where the importance of respect for the receptor languages and cultures can be demonstrated and in this article I present a few examples from my own experience with CIS (former USSR) languages. Among other treatments of metaphor, I draw on the work of K. McElhanon, who suggests translating scenarios rather than words and expressions, even though scenarios are not identical in different cultures. View Less

The expression “like a dove” in Mark 1.10 is syntactically related either to “Spirit” or “descending.” Although a dove was often interpreted as the symbol of the Spirit in later Christian tradition, such imagery is not found in Jewish and early Christian texts of the first century. In my paper I demonstrate that this expression resonates with Gen 1.2; 4Q521; Odes of Solomon 28:1; the Babylonian Talmud tractate H. agigah 15a; and Genesis Rabbah 2.4 as connected with the description of how the Spirit hovers (like a bird) over the righteous. This symbolism was adopted by the pre-Gospel tradition about Jesus’ baptism to specify the manner in which the Spirit descended upon Jesus. View Less

Translating the name “Babylon” in some languages requires that a choice be made whether the name refers to a city, a nation, or a country. This article discusses how the meaning can be determined on the basis of the immediate context, the larger context, the occurrence of collocations, and by logical inferences. It discusses the additional problems related to places where “Babylon” is personified and where it is used metonymically. An appendix contains a list of suggested choices. The procedures provided here can be applied to similar disambiguation problems for other names, such as Judah and Israel. View Less

In 2 Sam 11 and Num 22, the direct speech of the first speaker (Joab and Balak, respectively) is passed on and quoted by others. However, the messenger does not convey the message exactly as it had been formulated by the first speaker but instead adapts it to his own point of view. In this short contribution I show that the differences in the Hebrew text between the original message (the first speaker’s direct speech) and the message as conveyed (the embedded direct speech within the messenger’s own direct speech) have a specific function in the narrative. We should respect these differences when we translate. They should therefore not be treated as text-critical problems and be harmonized on the basis of variant readings from ancient versions, as has been done from time to time. View Less

After a short introduction, the methodology underlying this study is explained in terms of the so-called breaks, bonds, bounds, and bumps of discourse organization, as revealed by five principal literary-structural markers: aperture, closure, bonding, juncture, and peak. These diagnostic features are then applied to present a sequential summary of the compositional arrangement (cycles, stanzas, strophes) of the entire prophetic book of Micah. The significance of this type of detailed discourse analysis for both understanding the biblical text and translating it is briefly pointed out and illustrated. View Less

Translation consultants find that they keep coming back to some of the same texts and passages time and again in their translation checking. These are texts that present particular challenges across many different projects, and so become places that consultants always make sure they have looked at carefully. This article explores the risks and benefits of using lists of such texts as a guide for checking. View Less

Different languages allow different kinds of information to be left implicit and require different kinds of information to be made explicit. So when translating from one language to another, the way we handle implicit and explicit information is a major issue. This article illustrates the treatment of such information in translating directionals, pronouns, verbal tense, word meanings, chains of reference, and passives. View Less

Review of The Greek New Testament, Produced at Tyndale House Cambridge. Edited by Dirk Jongkind, Peter J. Williams, Peter M. Head, and Patrick James. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017. View Less