MAP — Modular Aggregation of Principles for Bible Translation

https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/tbtd/75/3

In this issue we offer you five articles and a book review. We also reintroduce the category of “Notes.” Those who have known The Bible Translator for some time may remember these shorter contributions that are especially intended for practitioners, discussing discrete textual, exegetical, or translation issues. We thank Graham Ogden for reviving this category and hope that it will encourage others to submit similar contributions.

We have three Technical Papers, two of which address topics in the field of Old Testament. Gregory Forth looks at the translation of the names of unclean birds in Lev 11.13-19 and Deut 14.12-18 in Kambera, a language of Indonesia. The translation of terms for flora and fauna raises distinct problems, especially for languages in places far removed from the Middle East and Europe. Forth discusses the renderings used in Kambera and the different strategies behind the translation choices. He emphasises the importance of knowing local bird nomenclature for successful translation, and argues that using neologisms to refer to species that are not known locally may confuse rather than help readers. Teija Greed looks at how “dream-ness” is conveyed linguistically in the dream passages of the Hebrew Bible. She analyses four biblical dreams and identifies the frequent use of the discourse particle (wǝ)hinnēh together with the predicative “scenic” participle as the key linguistic signals for biblical dream-ness. She then considers how “dream-ness” is rendered in four translations with the help of a wide variety of linguistic strategies, including mirative and modal marking. Greed argues that in order to do justice to these dream passages, translators need to look beyond the domain of linguistics and also make use of other domains, especially poetics. Our third Technical Paper is written by Doug Liao, who sheds light on the interesting history behind the 1971 revision of the Thai Bible. The revision was used by the majority of Thai Protestants for four decades before it was further revised and published in 2011 as the Thai Standard Version. This article examines the decisions that led to the 1971 revision, the people and processes involved in the translation, and the obstacles it faced.

The two Practical Papers in this issue are based on experiences in translation in Africa. Hannah Bossers looks at the sociolinguistic factors that play a role in determining whether a Bible translation will be used. Her research focusses on the case of the Jula Bible in Burkina Faso and the complex issues of language attitudes and ideologies, age, and gender. Bossers emphasises the importance of assessing the need and desire for each new Bible translation. Justino Alfredo and Stuart Foster demonstrate that, despite the obvious financial advantages of online distance learning in training translators, the more costly alternative of face-to-face classroom events has proven far more effective. Based on their experiences with translator training at the Bible Society of Mozambique in the aftermath of the pandemic, Alfredo and Foster argue that distance learning should never be seen as a substitute for face-to-face teaching.

In his Note, Graham Ogden highlights one issue from his recent commentary on the book of Micah, and shows how the chiastic structure of the book as a whole, with 4.11-13 serving as its numerical centre, serves Micah’s message to Judah and Israel and his warnings against corruption and apostacy.

Phil Reid offers us a review of Ashley E. Lyon’s Reassessing Selah, which sheds new light on the function and meaning of the term and the consequences this may have for translation.

Marijke de Lang
Andy Warren-Rothlin

Articles

The Bible Translator 75.3 (December 2024)

Articles

Technical Papers

Practical Papers

Note

Book Review

0 comments