The Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin and Greek that is translated as “vision” in English is translated in a variety in the following languages:
- Chol: “as if in a dream” (source: Robert Bascom)
- Obolo: ilaak ọkpọchieen̄ or “dreaming awake” (source: Enene Enene)
- Eastern Highland Otomi: “a showing like dreams”
- Desano: “see in a dream what God will send”
- Rincón Zapotec: “see what God shows”
- Mayo: “see things from God as in a dream”
- Lalana Chinantec: “dream how it is going to be”
- Chuj: “like dreaming they see”
- San Mateo del Mar Huave: “understand what they see as if in a dream”
- Ayutla Mixtec: “see that which will happen” (source for this and seven above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
- Tagbanwa: “being caused to dream by God” (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
- Chichewa: azidzaona zinthu m’masomphenya: “they will see things as if face-to-face” (interconfessional translation, publ. 1999) (Source: Wendland 1998, p. 69)
- Mandarin Chinese: yì xiàng (异象 / 異象), lit. “different (or: strange) appearance.” (Source: Zetzsche)
The Greek in the books of Revelation and Acts is translated as obq-rmwible: “look-dream” in Natügu. Brenda Boerger (in Beerle-Moor / Voinov, p. 162ff.) tells the story of that translation: “In the book of Revelation, the author, John, talks about having visions. Mr. Simon [the native language translator] and I discussed what this meant and he invented the compound verb obq-rmwible ‘look-dream’ to express it. Interestingly, during village testing no one ever had to ask what this neologism meant.”
See also see a vision.
The Greek, Latin and Ge’ez that is translated as “all the gentiles” or “all nations” in English is translated as “all people” in Tzeltal, as “all mankind” in Highland Totonac, or “the peoples who are everywhere” in Chicahuaxtla Triqui. (Source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)
See also gentiles and nations.
The Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin that is often translated as “gentiles” (or “nations”) in English is often translated as a “local equivalent of ‘foreigners,'” such as “the people of other lands” (Guerrero Amuzgo), “people of other towns” (Tzeltal), “people of other languages” (San Miguel El Grande Mixtec), “strange peoples” (Navajo (Dinė)) (this and above, see Bratcher / Nida), “outsiders” (Ekari), “people of foreign lands” (Kannada), “non-Jews” (North Alaskan Inupiatun), “people being-in-darkness” (a figurative expression for people lacking cultural or religious insight) (Toraja-Sa’dan) (source for this and three above Reiling / Swellengrebel), “from different places all people” (Martu Wangka) (source: Carl Gross).
Tzeltal translates it as “people in all different towns,” Chicahuaxtla Triqui as “the people who live all over the world,” Highland Totonac as “all the outsider people,” Sayula Popoluca as “(people) in every land” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Chichimeca-Jonaz as “foreign people who are not Jews,” Sierra de Juárez Zapotec as “people of other nations” (source of this and one above: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.), Highland Totonac as “outsider people” (source: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.), Uma as “people who are not the descendants of Israel” (source: Uma Back Translation), “other ethnic groups” (source: Newari Back Translation), and Yakan as “the other tribes” (source: Yakan Back Translation).
In Chichewa, it is translated with mitundu or “races.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
See also nations.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Isaiah 29:7:
- Kupsabiny: “All countries that fight against Ariel shall be scattered.
Those countries that fight and cause suffering to that city shall get finished/lost.
Those countries shall get finished like a dream in the night.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
- Newari: “When the forces of all nations go to do battle against Ariel,
they and their weapons quickly disappear [lit.: cease to exist] like a dream.
Those who attack the fortress of the city
will disappear [lit.: cease to exist] like a vision,” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
- Hiligaynon: “The many nations who attack Jerusalem and destroy its stone-walls will-disappear like a dream. They are like a man who is-dreaming that (he) is-eating, but when he woke-up he is hungry, or like a man who is-dreaming that (he) is-drinking, but when he woke-up he is thirsty.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
- English: “Then the armies of all the nations that will be attacking Jerusalem will quickly disappear like a dream in the night.
Those who will be attacking Jerusalem will suddenly vanish/disappear.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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