Asia

The Greek that is translated as “Asia” or similar in English is translated in German with Provinz Asia (or: “Asien”) or “province of Asia.”

inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (2Cor. 1:8)

Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)

The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).

For this verse, translators typically select the exclusive form referring to only Paul.

Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.

Mal uses 4 forms of the first-person plural pronoun: inclusive dual “we” (includes the person that the speaker addresses), exclusive dual “we” (includes the speaker plus another person but excludes the person that the speaker addresses), inclusive plural “we” (includes all persons that the speaker addresses), exclusive plural “we” (includes the speaker plus at least two other persons but excludes the other persons person that the speaker addresses).

In this verse the Mal translation is using the exclusive dual form, which includes Timothy (see verse 1:1) but excludes all addressees.

Source: David Filbeck in The Bible Translator 1994, p. 401ff.

brother (fellow believer)

The Greek that is translated in English as “brother” or “brother and sister” (in the sense of fellow believers), is translated with a specifically coined word in Kachin: “There are two terms for brother in Kachin. One is used to refer to a Christian brother. This term combines ‘older and younger brother.’ The other term is used specifically for addressing siblings. When one uses this term, one must specify if the older or younger person is involved. A parallel system exists for ‘sister’ as well. In [these verses], the term for ‘a Christian brother’ is used.” (Source: Gam Seng Shae)

In Matumbi is is translated as alongo aumini or “relative-believer.” (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)

In Martu Wangka it is translated as “relative” (this is also the term that is used for “follower.”) (Source: Carl Gross)

In the German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) it is often translated as Mitchristen or “fellow Christians.”

See also brothers.

complete verse (2 Corinthians 1:8)

Following are a number of back-translations of 2 Corinthians 1:8:

  • Uma: “Relatives, so that you know, the difficulties that hit us (excl.) in the propinsi of Asia were so severe. The difficulties were very heavy, more than our (excl.) ability, with the result that our (excl.) hearts became discouraged [lit., lessened], we (excl.) said there’s no way we (excl.) are going to live. [Uma idiom that cannot be translated literally]” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “My brothers, we (excl.) want to tell you about the trouble that we (excl.) experienced there in the place Asiya. We (excl.) were really in very great difficulty (tight) we (excl.) almost could not endure it. We (excl.) did not expect to live.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “We want you to know, brothers, about the big trouble that we had when we were in the province of Asia. We suffered a very severe testing which we thought we could not endure; that’s why we thought it would be the death of us.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “You brothers, we (excl.) want you to know the excessive hardship/difficulty/suffering (same range of meaning throughout book) that we (excl.) experienced in the province Asia. We (excl.) were extremely burdened by that hardship until we (excl.) were not able-to-endure it and we (excl.) already had no hope that we (excl.) would live.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Siblings in believing, we (excl.) will tell you about the hardships that we (excl.) experienced in Asia. What we (excl.) experienced was really horrendous (lit. truly very-far-from-ordinary). We (excl.) really no longer had any assurance that we would still be alive.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Listen my brothers, concerning the places in the land of Asia, I want that you know that I suffered much there. Very much did I live in suffering, I thought that I couldn’t endure all the suffering I was going through. Because I was about to be killed.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
  • Highland Totonac: “Brethren, because we do not want you not to understand the reason for our sufferings which came upon us there in Asia. It was terrible what we bore; we were no longer able to bear it, to the point of thinking we would die.” (Source: Herman Aschmann in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 171ff. )

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)

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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.

One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on 2 Corinthians 1:8

Verse 8 begins with the word For, which connects the mention of suffering in general in verse 7 with mention of specific suffering in verses 8-10. Revised English Bible translates this word as “In saying this.”

We do not want you to be ignorant: in Greek two negatives are used: “We do not want you not to know.” In English this is expressed more naturally with a positive expression such as “we want you to know,” or “we want you to be quite certain” (New Jerusalem Bible), or more dynamically, “Make no mistake…” (Knox). Contemporary English Version takes this as an epistolary plural and thus translates “I want you to know.” Parallel expressions occur in Rom 1.13; 11.25; 1 Cor 10.1; 12.1; and 1 Thes 4.13, but with a first person singular subject.

Brethren: in his letters Paul frequently addressed his readers with the word “brothers.” The context in many instances supports the view that Paul most likely was addressing both men and women. While there is an unmistakable male bias in most of the biblical books, some modern translations prefer to translate “brothers” with a word that does not exclude women when it seems that Paul was including women along with the men. So Revised English Bible and Contemporary English Version translate “brothers” in this verse as “my friends” (see also 8.1, 23; 9.3, 5; 11.9, 26; 13.11). The English word “siblings” includes both men and women, but this word would sound very unnatural in English translations. Many languages, however, do have a commonly used word that includes women and men; and in the above verses translators may want to use that word rather than a word such as “brothers,” which does not include women. Note that New Revised Standard Version translates “brothers and sisters.” In some languages it will be necessary to add a possessive pronoun and say either “my brothers [and sisters]” or “our brothers [and sisters].”

Though Paul does not indicate here whether the affliction was sickness or external dangers against his life, the latter seems more probable. Affliction may be translated as “trouble” (Good News Translation, Revised English Bible) or “hardships” (New Jerusalem Bible).

We experienced … we were … we despaired: perhaps Paul is speaking about himself only, using the epistolary plural (so An American Translation: “the distress that I experienced … I was … I despaired”). If translators choose to retain the plural subject, it should be taken as including only Timothy and not the recipients of the letter.

Asia is the Roman province (see Good News Translation and Revised English Bible) of which Ephesus was the chief commercial center. It included most of the western part of Asia Minor. In modern geography Asia Minor corresponds to the peninsula that forms the western half of the country of Turkey. Asia in Paul’s letters should not be confused with the modern continent that we call Asia.

We were so utterly, unbearably crushed: Paul is using figurative language here. The Greek is literally “excessively, beyond [our] power [to cope] we were burdened.” Some possible models for translation into the receptor language may be “we were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure” (New International Version) or “the burdens on us were so heavy that there was no way that we could tolerate them.”

We despaired of life itself: some models other than Good News Bible may be “we lost hope that we could possibly survive” or “we felt certain that we were going to die.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellingworth, Paul. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .