complete verse (Psalm 78:15)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 78:15:

  • Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
    “He tore up stones in the wilderness
    and gave them more water like that of many lakes;” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
  • Newari:
    “Splitting a big rock in the desert,
    causing water to pour out,
    He gave them water to drink.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon:
    “He caused- the rocks -to-crack/split-open in the desolate-place and the water flowed
    and he had- them drink -as-much- water -as-they-wanted like-as-if (it) came-from the depths of the ground.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Laarim:
    “He broke rocks in a desert,
    so that much water flowed,
    which be like big seas,” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
  • Gbaya: “He split the rocks in the desert, water flowed out stood ritually still [use of the ideophone dɔŋgɔrɔɔ], the people could hardly drink it it was so much.” (Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages.) (Source: Philip Noss)
  • Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
    “Akaipasua miamba jangwani,
    ikatoa maji ya kunywa,
    yalikuwa mengi kama ya katika bahari.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
  • English:
    “He split rocks open in the desert,
    giving to our ancestors plenty of water from deep inside the earth.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

formal pronoun: Jesus and Pilate

Like many languages (but unlike Greek or Hebrew or English), Tuvan uses a formal vs. informal 2nd person pronoun (a familiar vs. a respectful “you”). Unlike other languages that have this feature, however, the translators of the Tuvan Bible have attempted to be very consistent in using the different forms of address in every case a 2nd person pronoun has to be used in the translation of the biblical text.

As Voinov shows in Pronominal Theology in Translating the Gospels (in: The Bible Translator 2002, p. 210ff. ), the choice to use either of the pronouns many times involved theological judgment. While the formal pronoun can signal personal distance or a social/power distance between the speaker and addressee, the informal pronoun can indicate familiarity or social/power equality between speaker and addressee.

Here, Pilate is addressing Jesus with an informal pronoun and Jesus Pilate with the formal, respectful form.

Voinov explains: “Pilate, as governor of Judea, would consider himself superior to Jesus, a carpenter and itinerant teacher, on the power hierarchy. This is especially visible when Pilate reminds Jesus that he is the one who decides whether Jesus lives or dies. An informal pronoun is appropriate in Tuvan to render this attitude. The more difficult question concerns the form Jesus should use in responding to Pilate. On the one hand, it can be argued from passages such as John 18:33-37 and 19:11 that Jesus did not accept Pilate’s authority. There Jesus affirms himself as king and lets Pilate know that Pilate’s authority is subordinate to God. On the other hand, it seems likely that Jesus would show due respect to the authorities, not out of fear for his life, but rather because this constituted a part of the Jewish concept of righteousness. (…) One potential problem with this solution is that readers may think that Jesus is trying to curry the favor of these powerful people in order to save himself. Before making a final decision the Tuvan translators did comprehension testing concerning this point. None of the readers interpreted Jesus’ use of the informal pronoun in this way, but rather said that Jesus was showing respect appropriate to the position of his addressee.”

In Gbaya, where God is always addressed with the second person plural pronoun ɛ́nɛ́, the common way to address superiors, Pilate and Jesus address each other with the less courteous nɛ́. (Source Philip Noss)

In Khmer, both major translation have Pilate use nĕək (អ្នក) when addressing Jesus, a polite address that shows Pilate’s sincerity, whereas Jesus addresses Pilate with look (លោក), “a polite address that comes off as informal considering Pilate’s station as hegemon.” (Source: Kristofer Dale Coffman in The Bible Translator 2017, p. 227ff. )

In Dutch, Western Frisian, and Afrikaans translations, the formal address is used by both.

complete verse (Psalm 80:16)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 80:16:

  • Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
    “Your vine has been cut and burned with fire;
    at your rebuke your people have been destroyed.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
  • Newari:
    “The enemy has cut down Your grapevine,
    and setting it on fire, has burned it.
    Show them [Your] anger,
    and destroy them.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon:
    “O God, (it) seems that we (excl.) (are) as-if a grape-vine that was-cut-down and burned.
    You looked-at us (excl.) with anger and you (sing.) destroyed us (excl.).” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Laarim:
    “Our enemies cut down your tree of wine,
    and the fire burned it,
    you destroy them by your anger.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
  • Gbaya: “People pulled up the vine and threw it into the fire and it burned gbulɛɛ [ideophone to express wickedness] like dry cow dung. If you frown and look at them, they will all die gbuɗuk [ideophone to express a calamity befalling many people at once — see here].” (Source: Philip Noss)
  • Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
    “Maadui wameukata mti wako wa mizabibu,
    wameuchoma katika moto,
    uonyeshe hasira zako, uwangamize.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
  • English:
    “Our enemies have torn down and burned everything in our land;
    look at them angrily and get rid of them!” (Source: Translation for Translators)

complete verse (Proverbs 30:20)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Proverbs 30:20:

  • Kupsabiny: “Another amazing thing is this:
    An adulterous woman may sleep around with people
    and (then) say, ‘What wrong have I done?’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “The attitude of an adulterous woman is like that:
    She wipes her mouth and says —
    "I haven’t done anything wrong."” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “This is what a woman who commits-adultery-with-a-man does: She is-having-sex with another man, afterwards she says that she has- not -done evil.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “This is the illustration/comparison of an immoral (lit. doing-immorality-with) woman: she eats then she wipes her mouth and says that she has-no sin.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Gbaya: “This is the way of the adulteress after doing adultery, she bathes, gathers herself together sheʼs sɛ́ɛ́m [ideophone referring to being quiet] and says, I didnʼt do anything wrong.” (ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages) (Source: Philip Noss)