The Hebrew and Greek that is transliterated as “Lot” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with a sign that signifies “cousin,” referring to the fact that Lot is Abraham’s cousin (see Genesis 11:27). (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 19:10:
Kankanaey: “But the two men on the inside, they abruptly-opened the doorway and abruptly-yanked Lot to bring-him-inside while-simultaneously they shut-the-door again.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Newari: “The two people who were staying inside reached out [lit.: sent hands out] and took Lot, pulling him inside. Then they shut the door.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “but this [door] was opened-up by the two angels who were there inside and they pulled Lot inside and shut the door.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “But the two angels opened the door carefully, reached out their hands, and pulled Lot to them inside the house. Then they quickly shut the door.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
But the men put forth their hands and brought Lot into the house to them: But contrasts the action outside with what is about to take place inside. The men refers to the two angels. So Good News Translation and Revised English Bible say “the two men inside”; we may also say “the two strangers there inside” or “the two angels.”
The narrator does not say that the men opened the door before pulling Lot inside. He does, however, say that they closed the door after him. In some languages reaching out without first opening the door will be difficult to understand, particularly when the door is closed later. Therefore translators may find it necessary to say “reached out through the open door” or “opened the door and reached out….” The purpose of their reaching out is to pull or bring Lot back inside the house with them.
And shut the door is the final step in rescuing Lot from the crowd.
Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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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 third person singular and plural pronoun (“he,” “she,” “it” and their various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. While it’s not uncommon to avoid pronouns altogether in Japanese, there are is a range of third person pronouns that can be used. In these verses a number of them are used that pay particularly much respect to the referred person (or, in fact, God, as in Exodus 15:2), including kono kata (この方), sono kata (その方), and ano kata (あの方), meaning “this person,” “that person,” and “that person over there.”
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