The Greek that is transliterated as “Lazarus” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with a sign depicting that he is bound in clothes, referring to John 11:44. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)
The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).
For this verse, translators typically select the inclusive form (including the disciples).
Source: Velma Pickett and Florence Cowan in Notes on Translation January 1962, p. 1ff.
In the Yatzachi Zapotec translation of the Gospel of John, any reference to the evangelist and presumed narrator is done in the first person.
The translator Inez Butler explains (in: Notes on Translation, September 1967, pp. 10ff.):
“In revising the Gospel of John in Yatzachi Zapotec we realized from the start that the third person references of Jesus to himself as Son of Man had to be converted into first person references, but only more recently have we decided that similar change is necessary in John’s references to himself as ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved.’ As I worked on those changes and questioned the informant about his understanding of other passages in the Gospel, I discovered that the reader misses the whole focus of the book as an eyewitness account unless every reference to the disciples indicates the writer’s membership in the group. In view of that we went back through the entire book looking for ways to cue in the reader to the fact that John was an eyewitness and a participant in a many of the events, as well as the historian.
“When the disciples were participants in events along with Jesus, it was necessary to make explicit the fact that they accompanied him, although in the source language that is left implicit, since otherwise our rendering would imply that they were not present.”
In this verse, the Yatzachi Zapotec says: “After he had said that he said to us . . .”
Following are a number of back-translations of John 11:11:
Uma: “Like that the words of Yesus, and after that he said again, ‘Our friend Lazarus is asleep. Let us go wake him up.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “When Isa had said this, he said to his disciples, ‘Lasarus, our (incl.) friend, has fallen asleep. But I am going to wake him up.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Jesus told this parable so that they might know that at that time nothing would harm them there in Judea. And Jesus said again, ‘Our friend Lazarus has gone to sleep. That’s the reason I am going to him so that I might wake him up.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Then he went-on to say, ‘Our friend Lazarus is sleeping. I will go and wake-him.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “He further said, ‘Our friend Lazaro is asleep. I’ll go there to wake him up.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Afterwards Jesus said, ‘Our friend Lazarus is sleeping. But I am going to awaken him now.'” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
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.
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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, iw-are-ru (言われる) or “say” is used.
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
Jesus said this and then added is literally “he said these things, and after this he says to them.”
Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I will go and wake him up may have more than one meaning, as Jesus’ words often do in the Gospel of John. Both in Greek and in Hebrew “to fall asleep” may be used as a euphemism for “to die,” but the disciples fail to see this second meaning. The verb wake him up (exhupnizō) is the normal verb for “to wake someone from sleep”; it is not one of the two verbs (egeirō and anistēmi) used in the New Testament of raising people from death. Though the readers of the Gospel will understand from the following verse what Jesus means, the disciples do not at this time comprehend the true significance of Jesus’ words. Because of the response of the disciples, it is necessary to translate has fallen asleep and wake him up in their first and primary meanings. If one goes beyond the primary meanings, the response of the disciples becomes almost meaningless.
It is thought by some that by the time John’s Gospel was written the word friend had become a technical term for “Christian believer” (see Luke 12.4; Acts 27.3; 3 John 15; and John 15.13-15). However, it should not be so rendered in translation.
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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