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Source: Stier 1989
Das Neue Testament – Übersetzt von Fridolin Stier. München: Kösel; Düsseldorf: Patmos, 1989.
Translation approach: Translation according to rules and vocabulary of the source text, including largely concordant terminology, employment of neologisms, and uncommon syntactical variations to reflect the Greek text as much as possible. Stier matched many of his translation principles along those of Martin Buber, co-translator of “Die Schrift,” the Hebrew Bible in German.
Translation by committee or single individual: individual
Dates of publication and revision(s): Gospel of Mark 1965, New Testament 1989 (published posthumously)
Confession: Catholic
Publisher: Kösel / Patmos (book out of print)
The Greek terms that are used for what is translated as “net” in English are translated in languages like Navajo (Dinė) where fishing with nets is not known as “instruments to catch (or: bring out) the fish.” (Source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
“[People living close to lakes] produced further problems for us over fishing terms when we reached the revision of the Gospels. Fishing is practically unknown in the mountain streams and rivers, so there is hardly any vocabulary for it up-country. In Mat. 4:18 we read that Jesus saw two brethren “casting a net into the sea.” The word we used for net (urusenga) is used all over Rundi for a fishing net, whatever it is like, but when I read this to some people who live by the lake they said it was the wrong word, as from the context this happened during the daytime, and urusenga-fishing is only done at night. It appears that the urusenga is something like a shrimping net, and is used on moonless nights, when the fishermen hold flares over the side of the boat and attract a certain variety of very small fish which swim about in shoals. The net they use for day-time fishing is something like a drag-net and is called urukwabu. On enquiry inland, I never discovered a single person who knew this word. It was obviously the right one, technically speaking, but we felt that the few thousand lake-dwellers could not be weighed against almost the entire population of the country, so we had to employ the up-country word, putting an explanatory note in the margin that by the lake this net is called urukwabu.”
In Matthew 13:47 the German translation by Fridolin Stier (1989) translates it as “drag net” (Schleppnetz).
Click or tap here to see a short video clip showing net-fishing in biblical times (source: Bible Lands 2012)
The Greek in John 6:46 that is translated as “the one who is from God” in English is translated in the German translation by Fridolin Stier (1989) as “the one who has his existence from (or: is rooted in) God” (der von Gott her west).
The Greek in John 12:27 that is translated as “my soul is troubled” or similar in English is translated in the German translation by Fridolin Stier (1989) as “my life is all shook up (or: discombobulated)” (mein Leben ist durcheinandergeraten).
The Greek in Matthew 23:2 that is translated as “Moses’s seat” or similar in English is translated in the German translation by Fridolin Stier (1989) as “Moses’s professorial chair” (Lehrstuhl des Moses).
The Greek that is often translated in English as “end of the age” or “end of the world” is translated in Amele as “the end of the world time,” in Dobel as “the end of the world as it is now,” and in Luwo as” Day of God’s judgement” (in Matt. 13:39-40) or “as the end of the present world/earth” (in Matt. 13:49; 24:3 and 28:20). (Sources: Joseph Modesto (Luwo), John Roberts (Amele), Jock Hughes (Dobel))
In the German translation by Fridolin Stier (1989) it is translated as “the complete end (or: “the very end”) of the world time” (das Voll-Ende der Weltzeit).
In choosing a word for the Greek that is typically translated as “gospel” in English, a number of languages construct a phrase meaning “good news,” “joyful report” or “happiness-bringing words.” In some instances such a phrase may be slightly expanded in order to convey the proper meaning, e.g. “new good word” (Tzotzil), or it may involve some special local usage:
the Germandas Buch translation by Roland Werner (publ. 2009-2022) translates as “all-transformative good news” (alles verändernde gute Botschaft), also “good news,” and the German translation by Fridolin Stier (1989) as “message of salvation” (Heilsbotschaft)
Vitaly Voinov tells this story about the translation into Rutul (click or tap here to see the rest of this insight):
“In Rutul, it was only during the most recent consultant checking session that I realized that the Rutul word for Gospel – Incir (from Arabic إنجيل — Injil) — sounds and looks exactly like the word that means ‘fig’ in Rutul. This is a case of homonymy, in which two completely non-related words from differing historical sources have come to sound exactly alike. Most Rutul speakers know that incir means ‘fig’ because they grow this fruit in their yard or buy it at the market every week. However, because the religious sphere of discourse was heavily disparaged during the Soviet era, most people simply never encountered Incir with the meaning of ‘Gospel.’ This meaning of the word, which Rutuls of the pre-Soviet era knew from the Koran, simply fell into disuse and never had much reason for returning into contemporary Rutul since there is no Christian church established among the people. So if the translator continues to use the term Incir as the rendering for ‘Gospel,’ he runs the risk that most readers will, at best, read the word with a smile because they know that it also means ‘fig,’ and, at worst, will completely misunderstand the word. The seemingly ‘easy’ solution in this case is for the translator to use a Rutul neologism meaning ‘Joyful Message’ or ‘Good News,’ [see above] instead of Incir; but in fact it is not all that easy to make this change if the translator himself insists on using the historical word because at least some Rutuls still understand it as meaning ‘Gospel.’ This is a situation in which the translation team has to gradually grow into the understanding that a fully intelligible translation of Scripture is preferable to one that maintains old words at the cost of alienating much of the readership.”
The Greek in the referenced verses that is translated as “pray” or “prayer” in English is translated in the German translation by Fridolin Stier (1989) as “(offer) supplications” (Flehrufe (abhalten) / flehen).
Eastern Highland Otomi: “speaking strange languages” (source for his and two above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
IndonesianAlkitab Terjemahan Lama version (publ. 1958): “speak the language of the spirit” (bahasa roh) — “which leaves a strong impression that this is a mystical experience.” (Source: Ekaputra Tupamahu in: Journal for the Study of the New Testament 2018, 41/2, p. 223ff.)
In most Protestant Mandarin Chinese translations, the term fāngyán (方言) or “dialect / regional language” is used. The widely-used Catholic Sigao translation uses yǔyán 语言 (語言) or “language” instead. (See also W. Chong in Religions 2024, 15, p. 288ff. )
In the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) it is translated as in den Sprachen der Engel reden or “speaking in the language of angels.” The translators explain (p. 104): “According to Jewish understanding, angels primarily spoke Hebrew. The ‘languages’ of angels are specific texts (such as songs). This is not related to a formal knowledge of language.” Note that in the latter part of 1 Corinthians 14 (from verse 26 on) and in Acts 2:4, Berger / Nord use “foreign language” instead.
In the German translation by Fridolin Stier (1989) it is translated as “speaking with ecstatic tongues” (mit verzückten Zungen reden).
