Start by entering a Bible verse here and select Find Verse
Step into the multitudes of languages of the Bible and join the worldwide conversation!
Source: Schröder 2026
Schröder, M. C. (2026). Translating unknown concepts into Toposa: a lexical-pragmatic approach. [PhD-Thesis – Research and graduation internal, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam]. https://doi.org/10.5463/thesis.1702
The Greek in Luke 8:41 that is typically translated in English as “He fell at Jesus’s feet” is translated in Toposa as “he kept on crying [= pleading], wringing his hands, saying [that] if possible, Jesus come [please] to his home.” “Toposa do not fall at the feet of someone else when pleading. Thus the action was replaced by Jairus wringing his hands showing his worry, which is supported by his tearful pleading (with the repetitive aspect suffix), supported by the optative form keraa ‘if only it was possible’ as additional compensatory means.” (Source: Schröder 2026, p. 135).
The Greek that is translated as “tower” in English is translated in Elhomwe as enyumba yootthinddaanyerana or “house, one on top of the other” (source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext) and in Toposa as “very tall hut” (source: Schröder 2026, p. 137).
The Greek that is translated as “rejoice and be glad” in English is translated in Toposa as “be very happy and ululate.” “There was no near synonym for ‘be glad.’” (Source: Schröder 2026, p. 101)
The Greek in Luke 10:11 that is typically translated in English as “Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you” is translated more explicitly by the ItalianLa Sua Parola è Vita translation as “We do not have anything more to do with you and leave you to your fate. Here, take back also the dust of your city” (Non abbiamo più niente a che fare con voi e vi lasciamo al vostro destino. Ecco, riprendetevi anche la polvere della vostra città). (Source: Cotrozzi 2019)
In Toposa it is translated somewhat similarly as “We oppose you because of your badness. Even your dust we wipe off from our feet.” Schröder (2026, p. 135) comments on that translation: “In other passages that speak of ‘shaking/wiping the dust off,’ the team used a local substitute in rendering this symbolic action as throwing some dirt behind oneself (see shake the dust off your feet). The approach taken in this passage however needed to be different because using cultural substitution in direct speech would not resemble the original words closely enough for some readers in the target audience. Thus the translators compensate for the loss of meaning that occurs with a word-for-word rendering of the symbolic action by having the apostles state the significance of the act as part of their direct speech: ‘We oppose you because of your badness.’ In this way, the understanding of the audience is guided indirectly.”
The Greek that is translated in English as “beat his breast” or similar is translated in Kasem as “clapped his hands.” To beat one’s breast is considered to be a sign of arrogance and pride. To express regret people clap their hands. (Source: Urs Niggli in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 16)
Similarly in Bafut (in Luke 23:48): “If we translated the image, ‘beating their breasts’ literally, it would give a wrong meaning. ‘Beating their breasts/chests’ translates in Bafut as ‘ŋ̀kwɛɛ nɨ̂ mɨnt ̀ɨɨ̀ myaa.’ This means they were proud of what they had done. Another consideration is that literally translating ‘beating their breasts’ will mean that it was the women beating their breasts, not men, since, in Bafut, men are perceived as not having breasts. In order to bring out the right meaning using a culturally relevant image, we rendered this as ‘ŋ̀wɛtə mbô myaa,’ and this means ‘crossed their arms’ (under the chin, so the palms rested on the shoulders), which is a sign of mourning in the culture. So in order to explain the symbolic action, the translation added the implicit information, ‘nloŋ mə mɨntɨɨ̀ myaa lɛ nluu nɨ̂ àjəŋnə̀‘ which means, ‘because their hearts were full with sorrow.'” (Source: Michael Suh Niba in Vila-Chã / Hu 2022, p. 233ff.)
In Yaweyuha it is expressed more explicitly as “feeling great sorrow, repeatedly beating their chests” (source: Larson 1998, p. 98) and likewise on Chokwe as “beat his breast for sorrow” (“beat one’s breast” is the equivalent of the English “pat oneself on the back”) (source: D. B. Long in The Bible Translator 1952, p. 87ff. ).
In Toposa it is translated as “held his head” in Luke 18:13. “In order to show how sorry the tax collector felt, the translation has him put his arms around his head which is immediately understood in the intended way by the Toposa audience.” In Luke 23:48, however, it is translated as “intensely shaking their heads because of how these events burnt in their hearts.” Here, “the act of beating their breasts has been rendered as intensely shaking their heads, which shows their emotional turmoil. Additionally, the translators have stated the reason as ‘because of how these events burnt in their hearts,’ an idiom indicating upset and grief.” (Source: Schröder 2026, p. 121 and 135).
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “sailor(s)” in English is translated in Kouya as “worker(s) in the big canoe.”
Philip Saunders (p. 231) explains:
Acts chapter 27 was a challenge! It describes Paul’s sea voyage to Italy, and finally Rome. There is a storm at sea and a shipwreck on Malta, and the chapter includes much detailed nautical vocabulary. How do you translate this for a landlocked people group, most of whom have never seen the ocean? All they know are small rivers and dugout canoes.
We knew that we could later insert some illustrations during the final paging process which would help the Kouya readers to picture what was happening, but meanwhile we struggled to find or invent meaningful terms. The ‘ship’ was a ‘big canoe’ and the ‘passengers’ were ‘the people in the big canoe’; the ‘crew’ were the ‘workers in the big canoe’; the ‘pilot’ was the ‘driver of the big canoe’; the ‘big canoe stopping place’ was the ‘harbour’, and the ‘big canoe stopping metal’ was the ‘anchor’!”
In Rincón Zapotec, it is translated as “men having the care of the boat” (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), in Newari as “the ones operating the ship” (source: Newari back-translation), and in Toposa as “people who turn the ship” or “workers on the ship” (source: Schröder 2026, p. 141).
The Greek that is translated as “(they) insulted him and shook their heads” in English is translated in Dobel with the culturally equivalent “(they) continuously bit their lips at him and abused him.”
In Nüpode Huitoto, “shake their heads” is translated with the cultural equivalent “stick out their chins” (source: Ronald D. Olson in Notes on Translation January, 1968, p. 15ff.), in Chol with “spitting on the ground,” in Copainalá Zoque with “clapping the hands” (source: John Beekman in Notes on Translation, March 1965), p. 2ff.), and in Chichewa (interconfessional translation) as “showing their scorn” (“‘wagging their heads’ is understood as a nonverbal expression of frustration, grief, or even surprise — source: Wendland 1987, p. 110).
In the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) idiomatically with verzogen höhnisch das Gesicht und spotteten or “tauntingly grimaced at him and mocked him.”
Since the shaking of the heads as meaningless in Toposa, the translators chose to say “kept mocking him” (emphasis added), highlighting the continuous aspect. (Source: Schröder 2026, p. 101).
The Greek in Luke 6:44 that is translated in English as “figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush” or similar is translated in Upper Guinea Crioulo as “You wouldn’t pick guavas [very similar to figs] from a thorn bush, or cashews from a thorn tree.” (Source: David Frank in this blog post )
Toposa does not have a generic terms in this semantic field. “Since all that was needed in the context of this verse was an example of a shrub or bush considered worthless and not capable of producing good fruit, the translators chose to render thornbush as nyerekedae ‘hook thorn’ (acacia mellifera) and ‘brier’ as nyekabuuru ‘pink jacaranda’ (stereospermum kunthianum). The former shrub has vicious thorns and bears no fruit, the latter has no thorns and produces only inedible pods, both are classified as worthless in Toposa economy.” (Source: Schröder 2026, p. 101).
