The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “concubine” in English is translated in Kutu as “slave made to be his woman” or “female slave he married” and similarly in Makonde, “a slave who is/was a wife.”
In Kwere it is translated as “small wife.” This is the term for subsequent wives when polygamy is practiced among the Kwere. While they enjoy most of the same rights and privileges as the first wife, their status is not necessarily the same. In Kalanga it is likewise translated with balongwana or “small wife.” (Source for all: project-specific notes in Paratext)
In Newari it is translated as “illegitimate wife” (source: Newari Back Translation).
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of 1 Chronicles 3:9:
Kupsabiny: “All these were children of David not counting the other children that his concubines bore. David also had a (young) daughter who was called Tamar.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “All these were sons of David. Besides these, David also had children by his concubines. He also had one daughter named Tamar.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “These were the male children/(sons) of David, aside from his other male children/(sons) with his other wives. David also had a daughter who was Tamar.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “In addition to all those sons, David’s slave wives also gave birth to sons. David also had one daughter whose name was Tamar.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
All these were David’s sons, besides the sons of the concubines: The demonstrative pronoun these refers to the sons of David mentioned in verses 1-8. All these were David’s sons is literally “All David’s sons.” King James Version says “These were all the sons of David,” which gives the wrong impression that David had no other sons. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch is better with “They all were fully legitimate sons of David,” which means they had the full rights of sonship. The sons born by the wives of David had a status higher than that of the sons born by his concubines. For concubines see the comments on 1 Chr 1.32. This verse does not indicate how many other sons David had by his concubines.
And Tamar was their sister: Tamar was the sister of David’s sons, not a sister of the concubines, as the Revised Standard Version rendering might seem to suggest. If a literal translation results in ambiguity or misunderstanding, it may be necessary to restate the relationship as in Good News Translation (also New Living Translation, Bible en français courant, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje). In some languages it may be better to say “David also had a daughter named Tamar.”
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Chronicles, Volume 1. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2014. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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