Pharaoh

The term that is used for monarchs in ancient Egypt and is transliterated as “Pharaoh” in English is translated in Finnish Sign Language with the sign signifying the “fake metal beard (postiche)” that was used by Pharaohs during official functions. (Source: Tarja Sandholm)


“Pharaoh” in Finnish Sign Language (source )

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: Pharaoh .

complete verse (Exodus 5:10)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Exodus 5:10:

  • Kupsabiny: “Then those in charge and those guards went to tell the people of Israel that, ‘The ruler has said that you are not supposed to be given the straw for making clay.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Then the taskmasters and the Israelite foremen went to the people and said, ‘Pharaoh has said, ‘From now I won’t provide you not even one piece of straw.’” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “So they went to the Israelinhon and said, ‘The king has-ordered/commanded that we (excl.) no-longer give you (plur.) straw.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Bariai: “It came about that the work leaders of the Isip people and the Israel people’s spokespersons of the laborers went to the people and then said, ‘The great chief of the Isip people says that he certainly won’t give dry weeds to you (pl.) any more.” (Source: Bariai Back Translation)
  • Opo: “Therefore, chiefs of work went to people of Israel, said to them «King of Egypt said to you like this ‹I not you grass will give!” (Source: Opo Back Translation)
  • English: “So the slave bosses and supervisors of the slaves went to where the Israeli people were and said to them, ‘The king has said that he will no longer give you any straw.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

2nd person pronoun with low register (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 second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used anata (あなた) is typically used when the speaker is humbly addressing another person.

In these verses, however, omae (おまえ) is used, a cruder second person pronoun, that Jesus for instance chooses when chiding his disciples. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also first person pronoun with low register and third person pronoun with low register.

Honorary "are" construct denoting God ("say")

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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, iw-are-ru (言われる) or “say” is used.

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