p.s. I commented on
Monday, February 23, 2015
Wycliffe
I was skimming through Wycliffe's translations when I had to open my bible. I did pretty good in the beginning, the scripture was familiar enough that I could make out some words, but eventually I had to give in. I mean who knows what the word "axiden" stands for? Context can tell you it is asked. Yet when I hit "oon i, or titil" there was no hope unless I knew the verse. What I am curious of is if the words used mean different things than the words I am interpreting them to be. I'm always curious of what concepts we lose in translation. Like Dr. Bear said there are so many words in old English for sorrow and when we condense these we lose part of a meaning.
p.s. I commented on ... I'll come back to this. Jeremy's.
p.s. I commented on
That is something that has always fascinated, but also scared me. There are some places in which this whole translation thing can be awful and allows for mis-communication or a loss of meaning.
ReplyDeleteI feel as though this is a factor that is largely ignored, and it is also downright terrifying to me. There are so many different variables that have to be taken into account when translating a text or when considering how reliable a translated text may be. Language and the ways in which it is used, in regards to context and history, is not static. Words may not necessarily maintain the same meanings that they once had nor are they necessarily understood or used by a people in the same ways in which they once were. While I firmly support the idea and practice of translating the Bible to make it readily accessible to all of God's children, it is this text in particular that I find most of my fear from due to the sheer magnitude and importance of God's message. We live in a place where we witness several different English translations of the bible that will have completely different words and sentence structure than the others. Some of our translations are not even taken from primary sources but are taken from other English translations. This makes understanding some of the original passages even more difficult than before since they've been translated several times. Not only should more care be expressed when choosing a translation, but more care should also be expressed when a published translates the text in the beginning. Through care, something such as the message of God may be spread with much more clarity and precision.
ReplyDelete