Featured Christ as Authoritative or Loving?

In the Gospels, should a translation portray Christ as authoritative or loving?

Japanese has several levels of politeness. The boss of a company, the police chief and others with similar authority will speak on a plain level. Having Christ speak like this would give Him an air of authority, and we know that "He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes" (Matt. 7:29). A Japanese master of a traditional art (martial arts, flower arranging, tea ceremony) would usually speak to his or her disciples this way.

The other option is to have Christ speak on a normal, polite level. This is how the average Japanese speaks to others, especially people he doesn't know and those equal to him in society. A translation consultant in the States suggested to me that having Christ speak like this would convey His love for all people.

What do you think?

 

As far as is known, koine Greek had no honorifics or levels of politeness. It would be interesting to know how people talked to the Roman emperor, though!

 

Well, for sure you'd want Jesus using an authoritative tone with demons. It might be up in the air as to whether Jesus would speak to the Pharisees and Saducees with a plain or polite form of address.

 

This is perceptive. Translators sometimes use a linguistic tool called discourse to examine a discourse (like one of the Gospels or just one of the parables) to decide the functions of the language throughout that discourse. A discourse analysis of each of the Gospels might make a translator decide to translate with a different level of politeness for each Gospel! (I haven't done one of each Gospel yet.)

 

Only people who have never translated think it's a simple task!

Concerning the "word for word" idea, a term from secular translating is "verbatim translating." If the contract calls for a verbatim translation, the translator must make sure the meaning of every word of the original appears in the translated document. I think I like this term better than "word for word."

 

I'll spill part of the beans here. We originally translated with Christ speaking in the plain form--which I felt showed authority. I was trying to innovate.

However, our trial version of John is out, and I've gotten feedback from a Japanese pastor who is also a linguist in English (translated a whole songbook full of songs!) who believes that Christ should speak politely to all but demons, showing His love for people. Traditionally, this is what Japanese versions have done, though they might have Him speaking plainly to Pharisees.

 

Japanese society is based on Confucianism, which teaches that relationships are paramount. They say our society is horizontal since we believe all are equal, but their society is vertical, meaning you must always know if the person you are talking to us above you or below you in society. So you will speak plain language to those below you, plain or polite to those equal to you, and polite to those above you. To someone extremely important, like a judge, you'll use an even higher level of politeness, which sometimes even has its own vocabulary and grammar.

 

The Japanese family is a different subject, even more complicated. Is it the first born son speaking? Is he speaking to his father or his mother? What is the occasion? Are they in their home or out in public? Are they at the library or an amusement park?