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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Review Alter's translation

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  • From: Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>
  • To: bill.rea AT canterbury.ac.nz
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Review Alter's translation
  • Date: Thu, 06 Jan 2005 23:39:16 +0000

On 06/01/2005 22:49, Bill Rea wrote:

...

With a paraphrase the contract is -- if you were writing this
today how would you put it.


Well, what do you mean by this? Are you referring to contextual adaptations, like the infamous Cotton Patch Bible which transposed the New Testament to the southern USA? The Message and the Living Bible do a bit of this, not much. If you are simply referring to using modern and perhaps colloquial language, then that is what DE does, that is if the DE is intended to be in modern language rather than a pseudo-KJV church language.
...

Instead of Leman's system of classification I suggest a better way
is to provide some measure of how well a version delivers on its
implied contract with the reader. ...


The problem is, what is the implied contract? It is not simply "literal or DE or paraphrase".

... I own copies of the NASB, TEV,
and the NIV and I would say the NASB and TEV have delivered very
well on their contracts with the reader. In my opinion the NIV doesn't
do as good a job. However, if a person says ``I want a version which
is reasonably literal but when the going gets tough I want the translators
to help me out'' then the NIV could be a good choice. On my spectrum it
sits in an area where it's incorporated too much DE and paraphrasing
to be considered a true word-for-word translation, but not enough
to make it a true DE version either. Given its popularity either
that is what people actually want or it is what others have told them
they need.


In other words, it delivers rather well on its implied contract which is to offer something less literal than NASB but closer to the original than TEV. And this success is measured by its popularity. Of course popularity does not imply accuracy, but it does imply that it is successfully meeting a need, and it can only do that by delivering on its implied contract.

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



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