complete verse (Deuteronomy 11:8)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Deuteronomy 11:8:

  • Kupsabiny: “So/Therefore please obey all these laws that I am telling you this day, so that you get power/strength which makes you enter that land that you are going to take to yourselves to become yours.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Therefore obey the commands that I am giving you today. Then you, being strengthened, having crossed the Jordan, will be able to take for yourselves the land that you are going to possess.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “‘Therefore you (plur.) follow all the commands that I give you (plur.) now, so-that you (plur.) may have strength to walk/go and occupy/possess the land there across Jordan.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “So, obey all the commandments that I am giving you today, in order that you will be strong and able to cross the river and occupy the land that you are about to enter,” (Source: Translation for Translators)

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. )