Luke 2:36It is not the question of whether or not as a translation of αυτη προβεβηκυια εν ημεραις πολλαις "advanced in years" is usual English usage, or whether it's Biblish, that has me wondering. Rather it's the HCSB rendering: "Well along in years" which I think is an understandable English usage, but which captures many of the overtones of the original that "was very old" fails to carry.
ESV Anna…was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin,
Comment: The Greek idiom (lit.) “advanced in many days” means “very old.” The idiom “from her virginity” means “after she was married.” This illustrates one of the common mistakes made by literalist translators. They suppose that by reproducing a few words from the idiom (“advanced” and “virginity”), you get closer to the meaning. But it is the whole idiom that carries the meaning, not random words.
TNIV She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage,
HCSB She was well along in years, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage,
Now often, and probably in this case, such overtones are not important to the message. But, as any speaker or writer knows, sometimes they are vital. And, as most writers, and some speakers, discover at times even the author of the text is not aware of their impact till later... translators may therefore "miss" such effects, and overlook attempting to incorporate them, unless there is a concerted effort (when possible) to as HCSB has here incorporate them as far as possible even when they may not be significant.
Labels: bible.translation
¶ 8:14 AM
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Of course, if you want text... just read Watering the "Desert of Books" & Vernacular resources: watering the desert of books II.
Labels: audio, bible, bible.translation
¶ 11:34 AM
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Mark Brown has announced the launch of the new look Bible Society in NZ website. It is a nice looking (see right), and fairly easy to use, institutional website.I'm less than excited though. I had hoped for something more interactive. The Vision Network site seems a much more exciting way forward, which has the potential to allow ordinary people to join in "talking about" the organisation and the issues it is interested in, it also makes it easy for the "institutional types" to disseminate information, but THAT is not ALL it does. Now, you may think that I can't talk, the website of the institution I work for is less good looking, and just as "read only". However, most of our communication with our "punters" is done on the CareyOnline site, which (sadly? but for good reasons) is only available to registered students and staff.
So, Mark, what plans do you have to let us punters in pews start to WRITE as well as READ your web?
(PS: that last remark may be badly phrased, Mark's blog - naturally - invites comments etc. by "your web" I mean your institutional website... even a prominent link to your blog would be a start!)
Labels: bible.translation, web
¶ 10:21 AM
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Greetings Tim, thanks for your feedback. The new website is just the first step in a new web strategy for the Bible Society. The Bible Society over the past number of years has been very slow to adopt technology so I consider it prudent to initially take small steps of change when it came to our website.
The next step is to add more interactive elements, a blog and so on. And future steps will involve using the website as a tool and not just an information site, to promote our mission of getting the Bible into peoples hands and their hearts.. So building a community of support to encourage Bible Engagement; creating community spaces for various projects overseas and so on. But for now I am very happy with this first step.
In Christ,
Mark Brown
CEO - The Bible Society in New Zealand
By 
Mark Brown, at
April 30, 2008 9:03 AM
That's good news.One of the keys will be finding ways to get people started, that is where Vision Network has so far had less success - they've built a better mousetrap, but they still need to ensure that people discover this fact, before they start to beat a path to the door ;)
I'll be interested to read your thoughts on this, assuming that you post some of them on the blog...
By Tim, at
April 30, 2008 10:33 AM
- Part 1: Introduction
- Part 2: Two sides to being a slave
- Part 3: Defining kurios
- Part 4: Cultural context of kurios "Why do you call me Lord?"
- Part 5: Translating kurios in languages of the world
He already has English, Portuguese and Nyungwe. I'll bet Wayne will chip in with at least Cheyenne, over the next day or four I'll hope to add French (unless somebody else beats me to it) and Lingala. So, what languages can you and/or your friends add? Here's a chance to send a really interesting email to those missionaries and other foreigners whom you know ;-) getting their help too!Now it’s your turn. Please share an example from another language of how this word is translated in the Bible. What are some alternative words that might better capture the meaning of the original biblical term?
You might consider looking through some of the previous posts in this series for ideas of how κύριος was used in the Bible. (See the list at the start of this post)
Please include the following in your comments:
- The name of the language and a bit of information about where it is spoken.
- How the word κύριος is translated in that language.
- Modern usage of that word.
- Alternative words in that language that might better capture a particular sense of the word κύριος.
Labels: bible.translation
¶ 10:16 AM
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