vision

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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.

complete verse (Job 20:8)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Job 20:8:

  • Kupsabiny: “They will be forgotten like a dream,
    which will never again be seen/appear.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Like a dream, he will be completely lost. It will never be possible to find him.
    Like a vision in the night, he will cease to exist.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “He will-disappear like a dream or a vision in the night-time, and he will- never -be-seen anymore.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “They will be forgotten like a dream is,
    and they will exist no more.
    They will vanish, like visions that people see during the night.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Job 20:8

He will fly away like a dream: the fleeting dream is used in Psalm 73.20 to illustrate the temporariness of the wicked. Good News Translation translates “vanish like a dream,” which is more suitable for English. In some languages it may be necessary to replace the pronoun He with “the wicked person.” The Hebrew appears to be in the passive, “He is driven away like a dream.” Again the thought is focused not on how the dream goes away, but on the fact that a dream is impermanent. Therefore “disappear, vanish, go away” may express the thought better as an active construction; for example, “He will disappear like the dream a person had during his sleep.”

He will be chased away like a vision of the night: this line recalls Job’s complaint in 7.14 that God terrified him with night visions. Good News Translation has removed the passive sense of be chased away by employing “He will vanish” and using it for both the dream in line a and the vision of the night in line b. As in 7.14 there is no attempt here to distinguish between dream and vision. The poet uses vision of the night to extend the sense of dream and to go beyond it poetically, but not to speak of two different experiences. Therefore the translator should not make an artificial distinction in the meanings. In languages in which there is only one word for dream, it may be possible to use a descriptive phrase in the second; for example, “he will disappear like images seen during sleep” or “like thoughts that pass through the mind while asleep.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, Wiliam. A Handbook on Job. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .