Ixcatlán Mazatec: “with your best/biggest thinking” (source: Robert Bascom)
Noongar: dwangka-boola, lit. “ear much” (source: Portions of the Holy Bible in the Nyunga language of Australia, 2018 — see also remember)
Kwere “to know how to live well” (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Dobel: “their ear holes are long-lasting” (in Acts 6:3) (source: Jock Hughes)
Gbaya: iŋa-mgbara-mɔ or “knowing-about-things” (note that in comparison to that, “knowledge” is translated as iŋa-mɔ or “knowing things”) (source: Philip Noss in The Bible Translator 2001, p. 114ff. )
Chichewa: nzeru, meaning both “knowledge” and “wisdom” (source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
In Hungarian Sign Language it is translated with a hand gesture referring to God to indicate a human quality to communicate that wisdom does not originate from man but is linked to and connected with the fear of God (source: Jenjelvi Biblia and Andrea Bokros):
Ayutla Mixtec: “see that which will happen” (source for this and seven above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
Tagbanwa: “being caused to dream by God” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Chichewa: azidzaona zinthu m’masomphenya: “they will see things as if face-to-face” (interconfessional translation, publ. 1999) (Source: Wendland 1998, p. 69)
The Greek in the books of Revelation and Acts is translated as obq-rmwible: “look-dream” in Natügu. Brenda Boerger (in Beerle-Moor / Voinov, p. 162ff.) tells the story of that translation: “In the book of Revelation, the author, John, talks about having visions. Mr. Simon [the native language translator] and I discussed what this meant and he invented the compound verb obq-rmwible ‘look-dream’ to express it. Interestingly, during village testing no one ever had to ask what this neologism meant.”
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Daniel 1:17:
Kupsabiny: “God blessed the four young men to get wisdom and great knowledge/experience. He blessed Daniel to know what all/any revelations and dreams showed/meant.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “God enabled these four young men to understand all kinds of literature and to be able to understand matters of wisdom. He gave Daniel wisdom to understand clearly all kinds of visions and dreams.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “God gave these four young-men wisdom especially in different-kinds of literature and learning. Not included on this, he gave Daniel wisdom to explain visions and dreams.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “And God gave to us four young men wisdom and the ability to study many things that Babylonians had written and studied. And he also gave to me the ability to understand the meaning of visions and dreams.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
The form of this verse is awkward in Revised Standard Version, since it follows the basic structure of the Hebrew, beginning with the phrase that is essentially the object of the verb that comes later in the sentence. It is surprising how many modern English versions retain this structure (New International Version, New English Bible, New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible). In many languages it will be more natural to begin with the subject, God, and the verb “to give,” then followed by the object of the verb. However, there may be cases where the structure of Revised Standard Version will be perfectly natural.
As for these four youths … them: as indicated above, this structure may be awkward and should probably be changed in the translation.
Learning and skill in all letters and wisdom: compare verse 4 above. The first quality mentioned is a more general term, while the second is in two parts and involves ability in the area of literature and philosophy. Thus the word translated skill in Revised Standard Version goes with both letters and wisdom. New American Bible, Moffatt, and Anchor Bible speak of “literature and science.” Revised English Bible speaks of “knowledge, understanding of books, and learning of every kind.”
And: the conjunction here should probably be expanded to make it clear that, in addition to the gifts received by Daniel along with his three companions, God also gave him another ability that was not shared by the others. Instead of a simple “and” it may be better to say “God added to Daniel the ability to…” or “in addition to what he received from God along with his friends, Daniel also acquired….”
Understanding in all visions and dreams: or “was able to understand every kind of vision and dream,” or “had power to interpret any kind of dream or vision.” The distinction between a dream and a vision is difficult in some languages. The term “vision” is used more than thirty times in the Book of Daniel and usually indicates the special revelation of events that would take place in the future. A vision is usually thought of as being distinguished from a dream, in that the person involved is fully awake when it takes place, while in a dream he is in a state of sleep. But this distinction is not always maintained in the Old Testament writings. In some languages translators may have to say “dreams and special revelations,” using the more commonly known term first in the sentence.
Quoted with permission from Péter-Contesse, René & Ellington, John. A Handbook on Daniel. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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