Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Rolf Furuli <furuli AT online.no>]

Dear Paul,

>Rolf Furuli wrote:
>
>> I wonder why Peter, who is also a competent Bible translator, and yourself
>> draw the conclusion that
>> the literal translation I discuss, is for people who know Greek and Hebrew.
>> Here in Oslo I know scores of people, young and old who want to understand
>> the meaning of the details in the Bible, but who do not know the original
>> languages. I am sure there are many similar people all over the world.
>
>Rolf,
>
>Of course, I cannot speak for Peter.  But from my point of view, a purely
>concordant
>translation like you describe would fall seriously short in helping
>someone who has no
>biblical language skills in "understand[ing] the meaning of the details in 
>the
>Bible."  It would open the distinct probability of misunderstanding of
>concepts
>expressed by the chosen "translations," and it would not even begin to
>explain how the
>meaning and significance of words change in different forms and in
>different contexts.
>
>As you have stated, there is no 100% overlap of concepts between words in
>different
>languages.  So, even though the stated purpose of the translation is to
>allow the
>reader to see the word used in the original through a distinct
>translation, that
>reader will become misled when the concept in the original language does
>not equate
>with the concept in the target language.  And this is assuming that the
>selection of
>translations corresponds one-for-one with the original vocabulary, that
>the same word
>is not used to translate two different words.  That, Rolf, is an
>impossibility in many
>languages.  The language in which I do most of my work has a definite
>paucity of
>prepositions--the word used for "to, towards" is the same word as used for
>"from."  It
>is also used for "at" and "by" and many other concepts.  And there are no
>other
>options!
>
>As far as falling short in explaining different forms and different
>contexts, how
>would a concordant translation handle the meaning changes resulting from
>the use of a
>root in different stems.  Some of these even change the word into
>antonyms!  And the
>use of a word with a preposition many times brings out a characteristic of
>the word
>that is normally de-emphasized.  A person with no biblical language
>background would
>not have the tools to understand this.

I am much more concerned with the theological coloring of modern idiomatic
Bible translations and the unfortunate influence this has on the readers,
than with defending literal translations. In fact, I have not defended
literal translations at all, only shown that they have a right to live, and
that they serve the needs of a particular target group better than
idiomatic translations. However, while I accept your word that there are
great problems with a literal translation in the language you work, there
are substantially less problems in English.
>
>Since such a "translation" would have too many shortfalls for a person 
>without
>biblical language skills, I would see it only truly benefitting those who
>actually do
>have the skills.  And I repeat that the benefit is too small to warrant
>the effort of
>developing it.  In fact, I recall an evaluation of NT portion of the
>translation you
>chose as the "literal" translation.  The reviewer reported that it was
>very similar to
>what would be put out by a person with about half a year's worth of
>beginning Greek
>and a simple lexicon.  When we think about how many hours a student must
>study after
>that point to understand the structures of a text, how can you expect a
>person with no
>Greek or Hebrew to benefit greatly without a guide?

I understand that you have never read the literal translation I have
discussed; if you had, you would never have cited the mentioned reviewer.
>
>If what you are looking for is a tool that allows a non-student of the
>biblical
>languages to gain insight in the significances of the original vocabulary,
>there are
>already a number of those out there.  I can recall many hours spent with
>Strong's
>Exhaustive doing just that!  And I didn't have to search the entire OT
>through looking
>for the occurances of a particular English word.
>
>BTW, what is the term for the smaller divisions of the new Euro?  I wanted
>to use the
>equivalent of the American phrase, "This is my 2¢ worth."
>
Paul
--
Paul and Dee Zellmer, Jimmy Guingab, Geoffrey Beltran
Ibanag Translation Project
Cabagan, Philippines


Regards
Rolf

Rolf Furuli
Lecturer in Semitic languages
University of Oslo