While doing translation checks in the community, some of the leaders of the area demand that you make the translation sound more formal (like the King James) or they’ll not accept it. They don’t like that the Bible sounds like normal language that everyone can understand, having grown up hearing it in ‘old’ Swahili. What would you do?
chroNICHOLLS May-June 2009 is now available for download (3.11MB).
We have a new ‘WWYD?‘ question this month, so please join in the discussion.
Btw, the ants are gone now. 
You’re in a village doing a translation check with 15 people. An hour into the meeting a number of random people show up and want to join in. You’ve only brought food and sodas for the 15 – besides, they’re late and aren’t going to be that helpful. Barring Jesus showing up and multiplying the provisions, what would you do?
These days I often read (and post) over at www.betterbibles.com. There’s a lot of good discussion about what makes an English Bible translation good or bad.
Recently, someone quoted this poem from another site:
Flirting With NLT
Today the pastor flirted
With a little NLT.
It made the sermon real;
It spoke so much to me.But then he shifted back
To old favorite: NIV.
The pastor ended up
Explaining words to me.Why explain God’s Word
When the explanation’s here–
Waiting to be read
From NLT, the Truth made clear?
Which initiated some of the usual discussion about which version is the best. Someone else made a reply:
When preacher used NLT
The word was so simple to me
The big words got tossed
But the meaning was lost
He should’ve just used ESV
So, being the aspiring poet that I’m not (about once every year or so), I thought I’d have a crack at communicating something about ‘literal’ translations that might be easier to get across in a poem, rather than logical, step-by-step explanations of the insufficiency of ‘literal’ translations, which seem to fail more often than not. We’ll see.
Anyway, here it is:
Koine
A fellow one time told me he had bought an ESV
Word-for-word, not thought-for-thought, its claim – acc’racy
It borrowed terms, inserted forms, and things I’d yet to see
Apparently the standard language of the bourgeoisie
But why now in their Intro did they not stick to that mould?
No ‘grinding’ women, no goats in charge, no trembling loins, I’m told
It seems they plied a different rule when wanting to unfold
Their message to their readers than the Message from of old
This standard English Bible teaches us that good translation
Is a word-for-word from Hebrew/Greek to English imitation
But what about the other language parts and their relation?
Like discourse, culture, figures, focus, style, and collocation
It were that would but wither here that thither God would speak
Archaic forms of Aramaic, Hebrew, and of Greek
That He might once for all obscure the meaning that we seek
And justify the English of the ESV technique
Should Bibles now be written in the language of today?
Or do old words and foreign forms do better to convey
The ‘antiquated’ language that we find in the Koine
For what’s the meaning of that good ol’ Greek word anyway?
Anyway, the point was that Bible translations should be done in normal language, not in language marked as being spiritual, and not in language that simply imports features from other languages into English. In the Introduction to the ESV we read normal language. In the actual ESV we read very strange forms of English, that can only be explained by copying them word-for-word from the Hebrew/Aramaic/Greek. Just about every field translator knows that this is bad translation, but translators of the English Bible don’t seem to have grasped that concept yet.
By the way, Koine means common. The New Testament was written in Koine Greek.
You’re starting to feel like you’re established where you are and being effective at your translation work. Your family has finally adjusted, and you’re making good relationships in the Tanzanian community. But you’ve just gotten an email from your mission organisation telling you about a need for an administrator in another town, and asking you if you’d fill it. What would you do? (although we haven’t faced this yet, it’s quite a common scenario) Read more »
While visiting a government office to submit a form, a worker there tells you he’s hungry and wants you to give him some food. What would you do? Read more »
You’re visiting a village, and, at dinner-time, the family hosting you offers you meat that doesn’t look completely cooked. What would you do? Read more »
As you’re driving along a busy road, you stop to turn right, and a cyclist crashes into the back of your car, falling to the ground and cracking his head open. He’s not moving, and there’s a lot of blood. It obviously wasn’t your fault, and there are probably a hundred witnesses since the road is packed with pedestrians. What would you do? Read more »
The kids on your street are always outside playing soccer. Instead of a ball, they use plastic bags rolled up and tied up with string. You thought it would be fun to buy them a cheap soccer ball, and you know they’d love it, but you can’t buy one for everyone. What would you do? Read more »
 | Donda on Ye Olde Testament |
 | Michael Nicholls on Ye Olde Testament |
 | Glenda Gross on Ye Olde Testament |
 | GG on Ye Olde Testament |
 | James on Ye Olde Testament |
