Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>]

On 22/12/2004 20:55, Karl Randolph wrote:

> Jom:
>
> All translations are paraphrases, at least to a certain extent.
>
> 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.
>  

Karl, you misunderstand the translation process. It does not consist of 
word for word glossing followed by paraphrase. such as adjustments of 
the word order. It consists of understanding the text in the source 
language and finding an equivalent expression in the target language.

> 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.
>  

Precisely.

> Because of these problems, all translations are paraphrases.
>  

This is true if you accept Jim's idiosyncratic definition of 
"paraphrase". I do not.

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