Water! Water!

I am listening to a DTS podcast about bible translation and I had an interesting side thought. The podcasters were discussing the challenges of bible translation and the different ways the bible can be translated.

One of the challenges that comes up is that "literal" words/phrases don't mean the same thing in different languages. The challenge of the translator is to decide whether they should translate the "literal word" or the "literal meaning" (From Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek to English or other modern languages). I see merit to both. Here's the example I thought of from my foreign language experience.

In the Mexican Spanish that I learned while in California, the people use an expression which means "Watch out!" or "Be careful!" . They say "Agua! Agua!". The literal word translation of this is "Water! Water!". As you can see, this creates a challenge for a translator. Say I was a UN translator and one of the Mexican representatives used the term "Agua! Agua!". It would be silly for me to say "Water! Water!" into the microphone for the English speaking representative to hear. They would have no idea what the Mexican rep was talking about. I would justifiably translate this as "Watch out!" or "Be careful!".

When we talk about bible translation however, this becomes more complicated and this is where the audience/purpose of translation becomes important. As a serious student (albeit lay student) of the bible, I want to know what the actual words are. This will require some further research on my part, language study, commentary study, etc. to understand what the meaning of the text is. I would like a translation that says "Water! Water!".

However - the regular reader, the young person, the new Christian, or the non-believer might not benefit from that kind of translation. They probably want a translation that says "Watch out!" because they don't intend to take the time to research the language. Actually - I would also like this kind of translation (in addition to the other), to use as a casual reading bible or to use in conjuction with the word for word during more serious study.

There are dangers to both as well. In a purely word for word (ex. interlinear and to some extent the NASB), some of the "meaning" could be lost because the words don't make as much sense in English.

The opposite danger that I see is that in an effort to help the words and phrases "make sense", the translator may take too much liberty or may allow their personal theology to skew the translation. In other words, while some interpretation must be done - too much interpretation could also cause the "meaning" to be distorted. Alot of good translations will help this issue by including footnotes that give the actual greek word when they have "interpreted" it to be something else.

Also, the KJV creates special issues because although it falls a little closer to the "word for word" end of the spectrum, it is Hebrew/Greek to Old English. Therefore you have the special challenge of making sure the translation from the Greek is correct, and then you (the reader) have the challenge of translating Old English to Modern English (in your brain) to understand the meaning.

And for those of you who didn't know this; the modern translations are not translations from the KJV into Modern English. They are from the most original and/or most abundant (different discussion) Greek/Hebrew/Aramaic transcripts.

Conclusion - Agua! Agua! and don't assume that your "phrase for phrase" translation is "literal" and also don't pretend that you understand all of your "word for word" translation's expressions. Don't be too lazy to consult a "word for word" and don't be to proud to consult a "phrase for phrase". The good news is that there are abundant resources available (language study, commentaries, different translations, etc.) to help us get to the bottom of what the text says and what the text means.

Happy reading.