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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Re: nephesh mot

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  • From: Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>
  • To: furuli AT online.no
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Re: nephesh mot
  • Date: Tue, 26 Aug 2003 03:00:25 -0700

On 25/08/2003 22:59, furuli AT online.no wrote:

Dear Peter,

...

It is a pity that modern textbooks and courses for Bible translators teach that functional equivalence and meaning-based translation are the only viable methods of translation. These are fine methods serving good purposes, but the exclusion of the literal approach leads Bible readers in a direction which prevents them from understanding what lexical meaning really is.

Your last paragraph overstates the case. It is not generally taught that "functional equivalence and meaning-based translation are the only viable methods of translation." They are recommended as appropriate in many circumstances (actually probably the great majority of circumstances in which there is not already a Bible in a particular language). But it is never taught that formal equivalence translation is invalid, rather that it is appropriate for certain audiences, those which are equipped and motivated for the kind of serious study which you recommend.

On the rest of your posting, I quite agree that the semantic model behind current Hebrew lexicons is seriously deficient. That is why I am working on a project to produce what could be understood as a new type of lexicon of Key Terms in Biblical Hebrew, based firmly on modern lexical semantics. Several of the issues you have brought up are being carefully addressed in this project. The approach we are using is I think not quite what you would prefer, but I hope the results will be more acceptable to you.

By the way, are you familiar with the UBS project for a Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew, http://www.ubs-translations.org/sdbh/? There is some material there on the theoretical framework as well as the sample entries for the letter het. This is not the project I am working on, but it shares much of the theoretical framework.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/






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