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  • From: "Edward Andrews" <edandrews AT adelphia.net>
  • To: "b-hebrew" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] English to Hebrew?
  • Date: Sun, 3 Dec 2006 19:12:46 -0500

Yitzhak:



You said: "But what you asked originally was about translating an English text
into Biblical Hebrew. Here you are asking to translate an English translation of a known Biblical verse into Biblical Hebrew. The two are not the same thing
because the first could be a modern English text that is unrelated to the Bible and was not originally translated from it. Furthermore, since that man was a translator of the Bible himself, he might be expected to know how he translated specific passages."



Your last point is the issue at hand. Yes, one may have dozens of passages that s/he would have little trouble going from English-Hebrew. Moreover, there may be hundreds that s/he very well could do with some difficulty. There are passages that carry great theological importance and have been argued for centuries. There are passages where a particular rendering has been argued by almost everyone. There are textual criticism issues and so on, which these things as well as many others would cause one to spend a tremendous amount of time with a particular passage.



However, I ask a favor of all list members who wish to participate. Please pick up your KJV and turn to Genesis 2:4. Do your best to render that verse as quickly as you can into Biblical Hebrew? Please keep track of the time, and check your rendering against the Hebrew text. Then, if you would, please send the results to me or post them on b-hebrew. If this is a simple task, most of the list members should receive a perfect score. Also, it should be done in a timely fashion as well. Remember there are no resource materials to be used. I do understand that most of are very busy, so if you do not have the time for this, I can appreciate that.



Edward Andrews

----- Original Message ----- From: "Yitzhak Sapir" <yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com>
To: "b-hebrew" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Sunday, December 03, 2006 11:04 AM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] English to Hebrew?


On 12/3/06, Edward Andrews wrote:

The reason for my question is this; a man was on trial over 50-years ago.
The prosecution was attempting to humiliate him. The man had claimed he
could read and write in several languages, Biblical Hebrew being one of
them. The prosecutor asked the man if he would take Genesis 2:4 in English
and please render it into Biblical Hebrew. The man said he would not
attempt it, for he could not in such a setting. He was cut off from being
allowed to explain why. The prosecution left the lay audience with the
thought: 'and you call yourself a scholar of Biblical languages, a
translator?'

My concern is this; a lay audience does not know that what was being asked
of this man was not the norm. That it is no easy task in that type of
setting to do what he was being asked to do.

But what you asked originally was about translating an English text
into Biblical
Hebrew. Here you are asking to translate an English translation of a known
Biblical verse into Biblical Hebrew. The two are not the same thing
because the
first could be a modern English text that is unrelated to the Bible and was not
originally translated from it. Furthermore, since that man was a translator of
the Bible himself, he might be expected to know how he translated specific
passages.

Yitzhak Sapir
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