The name that is transliterated as “Jerusalem” in English is signed in French Sign Language with a sign that depicts worshiping at the Western Wall in Jerusalem:
While a similar sign is also used in British Sign Language, another, more neutral sign that combines the sign “J” and the signs for “place” is used as well. (Source: Anna Smith)
“Jerusalem” in British Sign Language (source: Christian BSL, used with permission)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 6:8:
Kupsabiny: “Listen, people of Jerusalem, learn from those troubles/sufferings and if not, I shall abandon you completely for this city of yours to became a deserted ruin!’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “This is a warning to you (sing.), Jerusalem, and if you (sing.) still will- not -listen, I will- surely -turn-away from you (sing.), and I will-make your (sing.) land desolate, that no one will-dwell there.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “Listen to what I am warning you, you people of Jerusalem, because if you do not listen, I will reject you and cause your land to become desolate, a land where no one lives.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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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. )
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 choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
Be warned (so also New American Bible) is translated “Take warning” by Moffatt, An American Translation, and New International Version; Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has the equivalent of “let this be a warning to you.” Elsewhere in Jeremiah the same form of the verb is translated “was chastened” (31.18) by Revised Standard Version. The verb itself has the primary meaning of “take advice” or “listen to reason.” Revised English Bible translates “Learn your lesson,” and New Jerusalem Bible “Reform.”
Lest I be alienated from you is translated “or else I will abandon you” by Good News Translation and “or else I will turn my back on you” by Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch. The construction is literally “or else my soul will be turned away from you.” In Ezek 23.17, 18 this same construction is rendered “turned from them … turned … from her.” The verb itself means to “turn away with a jerk,” thus indicating suddenness.
Desolation is first used in 4.27. Here translators can say “or else I will make your land so desolate it will cause great shock,” “or else what I will do to the land will cause people to be greatly shocked,” or, more simply, “or else I will make you something really shocking.”
An uninhabited land: See 4.29 for the same concept. Here translators can say “I will make you a land where nobody lives.”
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Jeremiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2003. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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