Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Jim West <jwest AT highland.net>]

At 03:55 PM 12/22/2004, you wrote:
> Jom:
>
> All translations are paraphrases, at least to a certain extent.

agreed


> First of all, on a grammatical basis, what is good grammar in one language 
> often is nonsense in another. Already by adjusting the word order, one 
> does a low level of paraphrasing.

agreed again


> Secondly, and more importantly, lexemes often have meanings in one 
> language that have no equivelant in another. Sometimes it will be broader, 
> including meanings that are rendered by two or three different lexemes in 
> the target language, sometimes narrower, sometimes a sentence is required 
> to explain a concept that one word does in the originating text. This is 
> not even counting figures of speech, literary devices and euphamisms.

absolutely


> Because of these problems, all translations are paraphrases.

i agree and coutldn't agree more.  Nonetheless some translations are more 
"paraphrastic" than others.  For instance, the ASV stays fairly close to 
the hebrew and greek texts whereas the NIV and the TEV and the NWT stray 
rather widely from the mark.  In this respect they resemble paraphrases 
such as the living bible much more than they do translations like ASV and NASB.


> These same problems exist even working as a lexicographer, let alone 
> translater.

We are, I think, at one.

Best,

Jim


++++++++++++++++++++
Jim West, ThD
Adjunct Professor of Biblical Studies
Quartz Hill School of Theology

http://web.infoave.net/~jwest Biblical Studies Resources
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