Jesus answered them is literally “but Jesus answers them saying” a Semitic form of introducing discourse; the word “saying” may be regarded as the equivalent of quotation marks in English.
There is no specific indication of what persons are referred to by them. However, this pronoun should not be so rendered as to indicate that Jesus would speak only with Philip and Andrew, and so reject an opportunity to talk with the Greeks. It is best to imply in translation that Jesus’ words were directed to all who were there, including the Greeks.
A literal translation of The hour has now come might suggest that the glory that Jesus was to receive was to take place within that very hour. The reference, of course, is to the death and exultation of Jesus, and it may be necessary to use a more general expression for time, for example, “The time has now come” or “Now is the occasion for.” In some languages the equivalent expression would be “It will soon happen that.”
Receive great glory is literally “be glorified” (so most translations). Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates “now must the glory of the Son of Man be revealed.” In 7.39 Good News Translation translates this same verb been raised to glory, but there the meaning is not as difficult as in most occurrences of the verb in John’s Gospel. In 11.4 Good News Translation translates it with the meaning receive glory, that is, “receive praise.” But, as pointed out there, the focus seems not to be on receiving praise, as Good News Translation intimates, but rather on revealing the true nature of the Son of God. In that context the reference is specifically to his power to give life. Now, the question arises as to what is meant by “to be glorified” in this verse, which cannot be taken in isolation from verse 28 (bring glory to your name). In both places the focus seems to be more on revealing the true nature of the Son of Man and of the Father, than on bringing praise to them through this revelation. For that reason, such a rendering as “the hour has now come for the true glory of the Son of Man to be revealed” is suggested for this verse.
In some languages, the expression to receive great glory must indicate the agent. It is then necessary to introduce God as the agent. To do so makes possible a clear indication of the revelation involved, for example, “for God to show how wonderful the Son of Man is.” For languages which require a first person singular reference to Jesus, it may be necessary to say “… how wonderful I, the Son of Man, am.”
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .