Recent searches
Search options
Administered by:
It is concerning that it seems common for theology and seminary students to be taught Biblical languages without corresponding teaching in linguistics and translation theory.
This leads to damaging views that translation is about finding one-to-one equivalents, that Biblical words just sat around with English equivalents tied to them and that it's Biblical and that it's viable to view scholarship as the sole or main entry way to spiritual knowledge, as if those who didn't go to seminary are less than those who did.
Sadly, I have come across people who have attended seminary and end up with those views. I hope they are less common than they seem.
Would it be possible for seminaries to pull in a linguistics and/or translation module and summarise what the Bible demonstrates about translation?
@jfslicer@deacon.social@multilingualchurch there’s a great book by Moisés Silva that talks about this issue. He gives practical examples in 5 modern languages to prove that translation isn’t 1-1.
Biblical Words and Their Meaning - great book. Really helped me understand translation better.
@jfslicer I should take a look at that. Exploring Translation Theories by Anthony Pym is super accessible. I've got a couple of old articles on translation theory and Bible translation that poke at the whole free vs literal shenanigans.
@jfslicer@deacon.socialI'll have to add that to my list to read.
Silva's most memorable example for me, probably because I know a little Spanish, is that the verbs for "to eat" and "to drink" doesn't translate right between English and Spanish.
In Spanish you "drink" soup and ice cream. Which indicates that the consuming verbs one language are about the mode of consumption and in the other the consistency of the food.
@jfslicer The French words à and de definitely don't match up perfectly with any English prepositions.
Prof Ian Mason, my translation theory lecturer for my masters was fond of reminding us that no two languages chop up the world the same way.