complete verse (Genesis 43:13)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 43:13:

  • Kankanaey: “Also take-along your younger-sibling so that you will go immediately.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Take your younger brother along as well. Go to that man in this way.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “[You (pl.)] bring your (pl.) sibling/(brother) Benjamin and [you (pl.)] go-back right-away to the governor of Egipto.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “Take your younger brother and go back to that man.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Genesis 43:13

Take also your brother, and arise, go again to the man: that is, “Take your youngest brother and go now to the man who rules there.”

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 .

3rd person pronoun with high 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 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.”

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

See also third person pronoun with exalted register.