Four clergymen were discussing the merits of the various translations of the Bible. One liked the King James Version because of its simple, beautiful English. Another liked the American Standard Version best because it comes closer to the original Hebrew and Greek. The third liked Moffatt’s translation best because of its up-to-date words. The fourth […]
Imagine for a moment that I only spoke Kouya and that I had something really important to say to you. How would I get my message across? Well assuming that gestures and an elaborate mime didn’t quite achieve the goal, I’d need to employ a translator. There are many theories about how translation works and […]
Elshaddai Edwards has an excellent post which reviews different philosophies of Bible translation and points out their strengths and weaknesses. The great thing about this article is that whatever translation or translation philosophy you prefer, Edwards will probably upset you. That’s what I call and even handed approach. If you want inerrancy, you need to […]
David Ker has just posted a very thoughtful short piece on issues surrounding aid to the developing world. He particularly looks at how this effects the Bible translation project he is working on. By the way, if you would be interested in supporting the Nyungwe translation project, you can sponsor the team for a day […]
There is a superb article on Bible translation and literacy in a recent Washington Post. They say a lot of good and important stuff and it’s well worth reading. I’m on a slow connection and can’t actually copy and paste a sample here, but you can read the whole article here.
There has been discussion about the nature of Bible translation circulating on a number of my favourite blogs of late. However, despite the light and heat which it has generated, I’ve found myself somewhat unmoved by the whole thing. Perhaps I’m getting old, or just plain lazy. It’s also true that the further I get […]
A few days ago Sue wrote; “I don’t know why I feel so tired”. Well, this video proves that she had earned the right to feel tired. In this two minute clip she isn’t checking a translation for quality – which is the normal consultant’s role – but rather helping the team to produce a […]
Mark Woodward has posted a short article about the Wycliffe Connect weekend at which I spoke a few weeks back. He summarises what I said in a few short sentences – which makes me wonder why I took so long to say it. However, the photograph he posts is so unflattering that I refuse to […]
I’m not sure why I’m feeling so tired – I felt like going to bed at about 7.30 tonight, but we had a staff meeting and then I needed to do some email. I think it must be that translation checking is very intensive and demands a huge amount of concentration moving back and forth […]
One of the difficulties of Bible translation is that many of the cultures that we work with are essentially oral. Stories, poetry and song are the ways in which information is conveyed, not the printed page. This makes for a real challenge when trying to get across the message of a rather large written document. […]