From: Wayne Leman (Wayne_Leman@SIL.ORG)
Date: Mon Jul 30 2001 - 10:20:00 EDT
I hear you, Ross. I can agree with some of what you say. IMO, some of what
you are saying is directed at a false caricature of translation, namely,
that some Bible translators do "the work" that readers should do for
themselves. I only believe that translators should do the work that
translators should do, and that is translate *only* the meaning intended by
the original authors (this, of course, opens up topics which cannot be
covered on b-greek, but we heartily welcome them on the Bible translation
discussion list). Too many Bible versions undertranslate, and many of those
who use those versions are not adequately equipped to discover what the
actual meaning is of the undertranslations. Most speakers of a language are
not equipped to do language or exegetical discovery as are the subscribers
to this list.
I would be more than happy to discuss these issues further with you on the
BT list, but I don't think they belong here on b-greek. I would want to
discuss specific examples of forms which can be field tested among a
translation target audience, to determine if undertranslating those forms
will present the audience with a situation that they can understand through
effort, as you seem to suggest.
BTW, I suggest that almost no fluent speaker of English would ever be able
to figure out the meaning of hendiadys examples in the Bible, unless he has
a Bible teacher or other reference tools to point out the hendiadys and give
the meaning. In those cases, what has been accomplished? We might as well
have just translated the meaning of the hendiadys in the first place. That
is what translation is supposed to do, anyway, precisely transfer meaning
from one language to another, without loss of meaning and without adding any
meaning. There is no "spoon feeding" involved when we accurately translate
all and only the meaning of the original. That is a straw man which is often
brought up in discussions of translation theory. Spoon feeding is when we
give people something which they can figure out for themselves. But if we
use that logic, we might as well not translate at all, because most people
are ultimately capable of figuring out for themselves what the Biblical
Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts say, if they work hard enough studying
courses, and using reference tools.
Best wishes,
Wayne
---
Wayne Leman
Bible translation discussion list:
http://www.geocities.com/bible_translation/files/btranfaq.txt
> Wayne,
>
> While not all fluent speakers of English are able to analyze hendiadys
when
> it presents in their reading of literal translations, I do not believe
that
> is any significant handicap to them in ascertaining the meaning of what
they
> have read.
<snip>
> IMHO, Wayne I think you are expecting your translation to do the spoon
> feeding in a way that can only be done personally by the community of
faith.
>
<snip>
>
> Please, all you translators out there, I urge you to let the burden be
> shared since we are all in this together, you can not do it alone, each
must
> participate, or what is this list for anyway?
>
> In Christ,
> Ross Purdy
---
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