complete verse (Deuteronomy 11:19)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Deuteronomy 11:19:

  • Kupsabiny: “Teach your children these words. Tell about them when you are in the home, when you are on a journey, when you lie down and when you get up.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “When you are in your house, when you go on the road, while you lie down and when you get up, teach your sons and daughters by talking about the commands.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Teach them to your (plur.) children. You (plur.) talk-about them when you (plur.) are at your (plur.) homes and when you (plur.) walk, when you (plur.) lie-down and when you (plur.) get-up.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Teach them to your children again and again. Talk about them all the time: When you are in your houses and when you are walking outside; talk about them when you are lying down at night and when you are getting up in the morning.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

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 Deuteronomy 11:19

This verse is exactly like 6.7, except that here the opening verb is simply teach.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .