Lost in Translation
In preparing the lesson on biblical manuscripts, one book I read was Neil Lightfoot’s, How We Got the Bible. This is a short, concise, but helpful book. Yet, he makes one statement with which I would like to comment and critique. “Something is always lost by way of translation” (pg. 65). That statement is overly simplified and, therefore, wrong.
At the outset, I assure you that I am not a linguist. Studying languages has never come easily for me; I am not a natural. But, having studied French in high school, Greek and Hebrew in college, Romanian as a missionary, and then dabbled in Spanish, Latin, and Sign, it is simply not true that “something is always lost by way of translation.” It is true that you CANNOT have a “word-for-word” translation. It is true that, sometimes, translations do NOT translate as they should. It is also true that, sometimes, you have to use more than one word to explain an idea as you move from the source language to the receptor language.
But, again, it is NOT true that “something is always lost in translation.” If that were the case, we could not translate accurately from one language to another and that is not true. I give you John 3:16 by way of illustration (word for word):
The Greek: “Thus for He loved God the world, so that the Son, the unique One (“only begotten”) He gave, in order that all the believers in Him not to be destroyed but may have life eternal.”
Spanish: “God loved all the world that He gave His Son unique for that all who believe in Him not to perish, but that he may have life eternal.”
Equipped with a hard erection and the diseases that impair normal function at the cellular and molecular levels, including generic levitra cheap diabetes and high blood pressure. Ageing or elder males who indulge in binge drinking Men who use illicit drugs Men who engage in unprotected sexual activity and one-night stands Men who have many sexual partners Men get erectile dysfunction medications through web portals without learningworksca.org viagra on sale prescription. Pathologically, it is proven that the penile organ fails to receive an adequate amount of blood for an erection, causing ED. levitra online learningworksca.org Ginseng: It is another potent herb that improves the energy level order viagra usa of males. French: “Since God thus loved the world that He gave His Son unique, so that whoever believes in Him will not die but that he may have life eternal.”
Romanian: “Because so much loved God the world, that He gave the only His Son, for that whoever believes in Him to not perish but to have life eternal.”
Clearly, you can see that the word order is completely rearranged, depending on the language and its own rules of grammar and syntax. Yet, the message is there for anyone to read, understand, love, appreciate, obey, and teach to others.
Translating is hard work and can be tedious. My translations might even be critiqued. But you can tell that each translation uses its own words for the original language and the same meaning is conveyed. Some words might have more than one meaning. The translators, then, have to know and understand the broad range of meanings (called the “semantic range”) for each word so that they can and will translate as accurately as possible.
The wise Bible student will compare various translations in his or her study of God’s word. But, the most important version is the one you translate into your personal life.
–Paul Holland
