“For ‘cousin’ Samuel had used the word donghang, the singular form of the word we had used for ‘brothers’ in other places in the book. However, the checking committee rejected the singular form being used in that way. They insisted that a proper kinship term be used. That is where our problem began. There is no Banaro term that means the same as ‘cousin.’ In the Banaro system, all your uncles and aunts are called by the kinship term for ‘father’ and ‘mother.’ Therefore, it is only logical that their children, your first cousins, are referred to by the same term as ‘brother’ and ‘sister.’ And guess what you call their children? ‘Son’ and ‘daughter’! So you see there isn’t any room in the system for cousins, as the English word is used.
“Somewhere in the discussion I remembered that we weren’t translating from English but Greek, so I looked up the Greek word that is translated cousin in English, hoping to find some help. The Greek word is more specific than the English word, specifying a first cousin. Therefore, we needed to use the correct Banaro term for a first cousin: ‘brother.’ Not so hard, eh?
“But in Banaro there is no general kinship term for brother. Age rank is important in the culture so one must specify older brother or younger brother. Considering that Barnabas seemed to take Mark under his wing and Mark’s action in turning back on the journey he started out on with Paul and Barnabas, we decided that Mark was likely younger. He is, therefore, ‘Barnabas’s younger brother.’ You have to realize that when a Banaro person reads this he will not automatically assume that Barnabas and Mark are siblings of the same parents but will consider the wide range of relationships covered by this term in their culture. We will also have a footnote trying to further define the kinship relationship that likely existed between the two men.”
The Hebrew in Psalm 23:2 that is often translated as “still waters” in English is translated as “water at the mouth of a well” in Dan since “the imagery of ‘still water’ is seen as something negative, water that is dirty since it isn’t moving.”
In the Contemporary Chichewa translation (2002/2016) it is translated as “clean/good drinking water.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
The Hebrew in Genesis 20:17 that is translated as “heal” (from infertility) in English could not be translated directly in Western Lawa. “Barrenness and impotency are not understood as sickness in the Western Lawa culture. Thus the verb ‘heal’ could not be used. Therefore the last part of the verse was translated: ‘Abimelech was saved from what God had planned to do to him. God caused his wife and women slaves to be able to have children like before.'”
The Hebrew in Genesis 6:4 that is often translated as “men of renown” in English is translated in Western Lawa as “men who are like horns of a barking deer” (= famous men).
The Hebrew in Zechariah 12:10 that is translated as “the one whom they have pierced” in English is translated into Tibetan with a honorific for “the one” or “him,” with a view to allowing for the quotation in John 19:37 (In the English New Revised Standard Version: “And again another passage of scripture says, ‘They will look on the one whom they have pierced.'”).
The Hebrew in Genesis 1:3 that is translated as “(let there be) light” is translated in Sango as “let the weather become clear.” “Sango has no equivalent for ‘light.’ Light is indicated by its source (lamp, sun, fire), or by its effect: ‘everything becomes clear’ or ‘that which allows one to see clearly.'”
The Hebrew in Daniel 9:16 that is translated as “disgrace” or something similar in English is translated into Pass Valley Yali as “to trample someone in the mud.”
