Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - [b-hebrew] Translation theory and hebrew verb forms

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: James Read <J.Read-2 AT sms.ed.ac.uk>
  • To: Rolf Furuli <furuli AT online.no>
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] Translation theory and hebrew verb forms
  • Date: Sun, 12 Jul 2009 20:43:54 +0100

Hi Rolf,

I've been meaning to ask you this for some time but never got round to it.

This question is more to do with translation theory than with your study of the verb forms although there is some limited connection. I was wondering what bearing your conclusions have on how we ought to translate the texts of the various Hebrew writings. Do you believe that the 'imperfective' and 'perfective' aspects of the verbs are so important that we should try to express them in some way in every verbal instance (like the NWT does) or do you think we should opt for a translation style that better reflects natural language in the target language (without overstepping the boundaries and going into super paraphrase mode, of course)?

The translators of the so called LXX didn't seem to follow any such rigid translation scheme. Also, the quotations of Hebrew scriptures found in Greek scriptures seemed to give more emphasis to basic meaning rather than any rigid adherence to grammatical influences. What are your feelings about these kind of translation issues?

James Christian

--
The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in
Scotland, with registration number SC005336.






Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page