Linguistics and Bible Translation

[John of Japan]

Culture is a key factor in understanding language, critical to context.

If you think about it, you might find examples of over politeness in English being used sarcastically, essentially an insult. I have been taken the wrong way by people used to sarcasm. It used to bother me. Now I just make the most of it.

Becoming a codger is an art form.

Eating babies was part of communion according to enemies of Christians. It was said of Baptists in the USSR. And to the ignorant, Baptist basically meant (means) something like Protestant, that is, not Orthodox or Catholic.

I have read that about the early church. Also, in the arena of Baptist history there are some who think a Baptist is just someone who immerses. So John the Baptist was one...sort of....

I wonder if foreigners being more common has led to the Japanese being more open or being more racist overall. The world exhibits far more racism and prejudice than the average American realizes.

Tons of racism in Japan. And Japanese exceptionalism. I experienced racism many times from Japanese. We once were refused service at a Japanese realtor, and so forth.

 

[RighteousnessTemperance&]

The exceptions in the English language are murder! Then there are the spelling differences.

No argument there. And it tends to be rather idiomatic.

Japanese grammar and spelling are very regular, with few exceptions. The difficulties come with the honorific language, avoiding Buddhist language, choosing the right kanji (Chinese character), when to just use one of the two Japanese alphabets instead of kanji, classical versus colloquial semantics, etc.

Sounds like triple murder at least!

 

[John of Japan]

No argument there. And it tends to be rather idiomatic.
Sounds like triple murder at least!

Linguistic homicide indeed!

 

[John of Japan]

I'm going to mention one more book, and may or may not post more later.

In the Beginning Was the Word, by Vern Poythress (Wheaton: Crossway, 2009), is a very helpful book for understanding linguistics from a Biblical perspective. Poythress points out that language is an invention of God Himself, and even explains how the trinity speaks within the trinity, one person to another. I used this concept with my Greek class this morning, and the students immediately saw the point.

 

[OnlyaSinner]

Becoming a codger is an art form.

Tons of racism in Japan. And Japanese exceptionalism. I experienced racism many times from Japanese. We once were refused service at a Japanese realtor, and so forth.

I experienced a tiny bit of that while flying from Narita to SFO with ANA. Sitting next to me was a young Japanese woman, maybe 20s. (I'm terrible at guessing ages of adult women - Black, Oriental, White, doesn't matter.) As soon as the seat belt light went out, she asked if she could move so as not to be next to an Occidental. She got an upgraded seat and mine became a bit worse. That said, the Japanese flight attendants on the ANA flights were much more helpful than the Americans on its partner, United.

 

[John of Japan]

I experienced a tiny bit of that while flying from Narita to SFO with ANA. Sitting next to me was a young Japanese woman, maybe 20s. (I'm terrible at guessing ages of adult women - Black, Oriental, White, doesn't matter.) As soon as the seat belt light went out, she asked if she could move so as not to be next to an Occidental. She got an upgraded seat and mine became a bit worse. That said, the Japanese flight attendants on the ANA flights were much more helpful than the Americans on its partner, United.

Yep, that about covers it. If they are paid to, they are very polite.

If the lure is English lessons or conversation, though, many Japanese are all about that. The English language is a big hobby over there. I used to joke about my wife, who taught English, being their pet gaijin (foreigner).

 

[OnlyaSinner]

Yep, that about covers it. If they are paid to, they are very polite.

If the lure is English lessons or conversation, though, many Japanese are all about that. The English language is a big hobby over there. I used to joke about my wife, who taught English, being their pet gaijin (foreigner).

My son began teaching English in Japan in 2003 but came back to Maine for 6 months in 2008-09 when his employer, Nova, went belly up thanks to chicanery by leadership. In March 2009 he returned to Japan, teaching English since then. (Also married a Japanese woman who is a real sweetheart.) About 7 years ago he earned a Masters degree online, which qualified him for teaching at the college level, currently in Nagoya. In 2016 when they still lived in Gifu Prefecture, we were able to visit for a week plus. It was 1-2 weeks too early for the cherry blossoms but a wonderful time just the same.

 

[John of Japan]

My son began teaching English in Japan in 2003 but came back to Maine for 6 months in 2008-09 when his employer, Nova, went belly up thanks to chicanery by leadership. In March 2009 he returned to Japan, teaching English since then. (Also married a Japanese woman who is a real sweetheart.) About 7 years ago he earned a Masters degree online, which qualified him for teaching at the college level, currently in Nagoya. In 2016 when they still lived in Gifu Prefecture, we were able to visit for a week plus. It was 1-2 weeks too early for the cherry blossoms but a wonderful time just the same.

Awesome! You must be very proud of your son, living cross-culturally, and his wife. Too bad you missed Hanami, "Flower Viewing," at the time of the cherry blossoms blooming. We have good memories of that: sitting under the trees, picnicking with Japanese friends, enjoying the beautiful blossoms. Maybe you can visit there again during Hanami time!

 

[OnlyaSinner]

Awesome! You must be very proud of your son, living cross-culturally, and his wife. Too bad you missed Hanami, "Flower Viewing," at the time of the cherry blossoms blooming. We have good memories of that: sitting under the trees, picnicking with Japanese friends, enjoying the beautiful blossoms. Maybe you can visit there again during Hanami time!

We are proud of him and love Yuka as well, but we pray every day for their salvation.
Two of the highlights of our visit were the markets at Kyoto and Ogaki - the kids lived at the latter in 2016. The Kyoto market is much the bigger but is also more touristy. At Ogaki we were the only gaijin in sight the day we visited.

 

[John of Japan]

We are proud of him and love Yuka as well, but we pray every day for their salvation.
Two of the highlights of our visit were the markets at Kyoto and Ogaki - the kids lived at the latter in 2016. The Kyoto market is much the bigger but is also more touristy. At Ogaki we were the only gaijin in sight the day we visited.

Being the only gaijin is always an interesting experience!

 

[Guido]

In modern Bible translation theory, in particular in missionary translations, linguistics has become an important component. Some scholars even call translation a branch of linguistics, but I prefer to think of translation studies, in particular Bible translation theory, as a separate discipline. Either way you look at it, the two disciplines go together.

Now, there are two kinds of linguists. There are experts in the study of language, or linguistics. Then there are experts in a certain language. That's where I come in, due to my two years of formal Japanese study and 33 years as a missionary, and I have a lot of credits in Hebrew and NT Greek, and have taught it in Japan and the US, so they call me a linguist here. I teach Bible translation courses and Greek, but we have a prof with a top MA in linguistics who teaches the linguistic courses. I have studied the scholarly discipline of linguistics on my own, but have never taken a formal class in the subject.

To the best of my knowledge, "linguistics" is a 20th century term. Before that it was called "philology," and mostly concerned the study of ancient languages: Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, Latin, etc. In this thread I'll share some volumes in my library as I've done for other subjects, but I'll also talk about how the discipline affects Bible translation.

Had a freshman in this morning asking how he can get started in Greek 101, though it is a year away for him. I love this! Someone asked me recently what my favorite course is, and I told them Greek. I just love the students' reactions when they translate a Bible verse for the first time, or we discuss the grammar of a word, phrase, or verse. If you think I'm bragging when I talk about Greek here, I certainly don't think of it that way. I'm just talking about what I love--the Word of God in Greek!!

Whereas not many months ago, I bought a book on New Testament Greek, intending to learn the whole language for study of the New Testament, at the time I had received it, I could not even persevere long enough to learn the entire alphabet; but I believed learning the Greek alphabet to be the most difficult thing, by reason of the strangeness of the letters.

 

[John of Japan]

Whereas not many months ago, I bought a book on New Testament Greek, intending to learn the whole language for study of the New Testament, at the time I had received it, I could not even persevere long enough to learn the entire alphabet; but I believed learning the Greek alphabet to be the most difficult thing, by reason of the strangeness of the letters.

Some of my students would sympathize. I had one fine young man who wrote alpha (α) like an English lower case "t" for most of the semester.

 

[Klein Reveche]

I'm curious, what do you think about Heterogeneous Language Translations?

Here in the Philippines, the Philippine Bible Society recently released Pinoy Version, a contemporary translation that targets Gen Z, which uses the Heterogeneous Language, Taglish.

Taglish is code-switching and/or code-mixing in the use of Tagalog and English. This became the defacto Lingua Franca among the vast majority of Filipinos, especially the young people. It is rare to find a native speaker that only uses Tagalog or Filipino without frequently switching from it and English back and forth.

Of course this caused some controversy among some people as Taglish is informal.

According to PBS:

The Pinoy Version is a dynamic translation or a meaning-based translation of the New Testament. PBS believes that the language used in the Bible translation should be similar to the way people speak. That is what the Pinoy Version is trying to capture, the way people speak. It is more than being contemporary because it approximates the spoken form of the language, not the written form. The PVNT meets all the standards of a UBS Bible translation project: First, it is accurate, being faithful to its textual base, the UBS Greek NT 5th ed. Second, it has no doctrinal bias, and third, it is easy to understand because it chooses the most natural way of saying something.​

What are your thoughts?

 

[John of Japan]

Hi, Klein. Thanks for an interesting post.

I'm curious, what do you think about Heterogeneous Language Translations?

This is the first time I've read this term. Looking at some Internet sites, it does seem to be a nuance of the trade language. Some years ago I was in Africa trying to get started a Bible translation from a Pidgin language, so to that extent I think a Heterogeneous Language Translation is a good idea. I'm of the opinion that any Bible translation in a language is better than no Bible translation, so more power to the translators.

Here in the Philippines, the Philippine Bible Society recently released Pinoy Version, a contemporary translation that targets Gen Z, which uses the Heterogeneous Language, Taglish.

Taglish is code-switching and/or code-mixing in the use of Tagalog and English. This became the defacto Lingua Franca among the vast majority of Filipinos, especially the young people. It is rare to find a native speaker that only uses Tagalog or Filipino without frequently switching from it and English back and forth.

I found this website showing several verses: Pinoy Version New Testament - Philippine Bible Society

It looks to me from this very limited sample that the code-switched words are becoming loan words, a very common thing in language. I see very few actual English words in the sample on that website.

Of course this caused some controversy among some people as Taglish is informal.

This doesn't bother me. It would depend on the Skopos (translation purpose) for the translation in question. The Skopos for the Pinoy version appears to be reaching the young people with the Word of God. Those who criticize the version would probably be the older folk, not used to how the young people talk to one another.

According to PBS:

The Pinoy Version is a dynamic translation or a meaning-based translation of the New Testament. PBS believes that the language used in the Bible translation should be similar to the way people speak. That is what the Pinoy Version is trying to capture, the way people speak. It is more than being contemporary because it approximates the spoken form of the language, not the written form. The PVNT meets all the standards of a UBS Bible translation project: First, it is accurate, being faithful to its textual base, the UBS Greek NT 5th ed. Second, it has no doctrinal bias, and third, it is easy to understand because it chooses the most natural way of saying something.​

What are your thoughts?

This is where I part company with the UBS versions. I feel that dynamic/functional equivalence translations look down on the reader, making too many renderings explanatory rather than straight translation. I think we can trust the reader to do his or her own interpretation with the help of the Holy Spirit without interpreting for them.

 

[Klein Reveche]

This is the first time I've read this term. Looking at some Internet sites, it does seem to be a nuance of the trade language. Some years ago I was in Africa trying to get started a Bible translation from a Pidgin language, so to that extent I think a Heterogeneous Language Translation is a good idea. I'm of the opinion that any Bible translation in a language is better than no Bible translation, so more power to the translators.

I think that they've made a good decision, and although there are already Filipino Translations, from the feedback that I've heard, many young people started to read the Bible.

I found this website showing several verses: Pinoy Version New Testament - Philippine Bible Society

It looks to me from this very limited sample that the code-switched words are becoming loan words, a very common thing in language. I see very few actual English words in the sample on that website.

I think they've scaled down the use of English words as the typical Taglish sentence usually incorporates one or more English words almost every sentence. I purchased the NT and the recently released Psalms and Proverbs, and I think that although I disagree with some of the words they used, I think they made a great translation overall.

This doesn't bother me. It would depend on the Skopos (translation purpose) for the translation in question. The Skopos for the Pinoy version appears to be reaching the young people with the Word of God. Those who criticize the version would probably be the older folk, not used to how the young people talk to one another.

Yeah, pretty much those who criticized the PV are older folk. They say it's disrespectful to God because it's informal and modern. Taglish started sometime in the 70s so most people, even older ones, know and speak Taglish. It's pretty rare to hear someone speak in pure Tagalog.

This is where I part company with the UBS versions. I feel that dynamic/functional equivalence translations look down on the reader, making too many renderings explanatory rather than straight translation. I think we can trust the reader to do his or her own interpretation with the help of the Holy Spirit without interpreting for them.

I agree with your position, UBS versions really like dynamic equivalence translations. Most of Tagalog and Cebuano translations that I know of are dynamic equivalence translations and are made by PBS. While their goal is to make the Bible understandable, sometimes some rendering goes too far and more explanatory. In many cases, they don't leave footnotes about the original Hebrew/Greek rendering.

In my opinion, they've captured the speaking form, not the written one, and it shows, as I sometimes it feels weird when reading a verse that I know natural to say but weird to read. I don't know how to describe it, but nevertheless I thinks it's a great translation for my fellow Gen Z's and God will use it to reach out.

 

[John of Japan]

I think that they've made a good decision, and although there are already Filipino Translations, from the feedback that I've heard, many young people started to read the Bible.

I think they've scaled down the use of English words as the typical Taglish sentence usually incorporates one or more English words almost every sentence. I purchased the NT and the recently released Psalms and Proverbs, and I think that although I disagree with some of the words they used, I think they made a great translation overall.

Great! The only thing I wonder is whether or not the translation will become dated after a short while, due to its nature. I hope it brings many to Christ in the meantime, but revision made be needed after a comparatively short time.

Yeah, pretty much those who criticized the PV are older folk. They say it's disrespectful to God because it's informal and modern. Taglish started sometime in the 70s so most people, even older ones, know and speak Taglish. It's pretty rare to hear someone speak in pure Tagalog.

Very interesting! I'm fascinated by how language changes. When we came back to live in the States in 2014 after 33 years in Japan, the English language had changed quite a bit. I still hear things that don't make much sense to me, or word combinations that surprise me.

In the case of Japan, classical Japanese was the only language for written documents until after WW2. The first complete Bible in colloquial Japanese did not come along until the early 1950's.

I agree with your position, UBS versions really like dynamic equivalence translations. Most of Tagalog and Cebuano translations that I know of are dynamic equivalence translations and are made by PBS. While their goal is to make the Bible understandable, sometimes some rendering goes too far and more explanatory. In many cases, they don't leave footnotes about the original Hebrew/Greek rendering.

I think footnotes are very important in such cases.

In my opinion, they've captured the speaking form, not the written one, and it shows, as I sometimes it feels weird when reading a verse that I know natural to say but weird to read. I don't know how to describe it, but nevertheless I thinks it's a great translation for my fellow Gen Z's and God will use it to reach out.

Oral translation is a fairly new trend, and it sounds like the Pinoy is an oral translation--written down.