The Greek, Latin and Hebrew that is usually translated in English as “truth” is translated in Luchazi with vusunga: “the quality of being straight” (source: E. Pearson in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 160ff. ), in Obolo as atikọ or “good/correct talk” (source: Enene Enene), and in Ekari as maakodo bokouto or “enormous truth” (esp. in John 14:6 and 17; bokouto — “enormous” — is being used as an attribute for abstract nouns to denote that they are of God [see also here]; source: Marion Doble in The Bible Translator 1963, p. 37ff. ).
The translation committee of the Malay “Good News Bible” (Alkitab Berita Baik, see here ) wrestled with the translation of “truth” in the Gospel of John (for more information click or tap here):
“Our Malay Committee also concluded that ‘truth’ as used in the Gospel of John was used either of God himself, or of God’s revelation of himself, or in an extended sense as a reference to those who had responded to God’s self-disclosure. In John 8:32 the New Malay translation reads ‘You will know the truth about God, and the truth about God will make you free.’ In John 8:44 this meaning is brought out by translating, ‘He has never been on the side of God, because there is no truth in him.’ Accordingly Jesus ‘tells the truth about God’ in 8:45, 46 (see also 16:7 and 8:37a). Then, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life’ becomes ‘I am the one who leads men to God, the one who reveals who and what God is, and the one who gives men life.” At 3:21 the translation reads ” … whoever obeys the truth, that is God himself, comes to the light …’; 16:13a appears as ‘he will lead you into the full truth about God’; and in 18:37 Jesus affirms ‘I came into the world to reveal the truth about God, and whoever obeys God listens to me.’ On this basis also 1:14 was translated ‘we saw his glory, the glory which he had as the Father’s only Son. Through him God has completely revealed himself (truth) and his love for us (grace)’; and 1:17 appears as ‘God gave the law through Moses; but through Jesus Christ he has completely revealed himself (truth) and his love for us (grace).'” (Source: Barclay Newman in The Bible Translator 1974, p. 432ff. )
Helen Evans (in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 40ff. ) tells of the translation into Kui which usually is “true-thing.” In some instances however, such as in the second part of John 17:17 (“your word is truth” in English), the use of “true-thing” indicated that there might be other occasions when it’s not true, so here the translation was a a form of “pure, holy.”
Following are a number of back-translations of John 8:32:
Ojitlán Chinantec: “And you will know the nature of the truth. And you will be liberated on account of having accepted the truth.”
Huehuetla Tepehua: ” . . . and when you know the truth you will be taken from your servanthood.”
Aguaruna: “And when you do, you will know truth, and that truth will lead you to freedom.”
Xicotepec De Juárez Totonac: “And you will know what is truth. And because of truth you will not be ruled over by anyone else.”
Chol: “You will begin to become acquainted with the truth of my words. My words are true. They will cause you to become free.”
Yatzachi Zapotec: “You will know what my true words mean, and if you know what they mean, you will no longer be under the foot of evil like slaves.”
Lalana Chinantec: “. . . You will no longer need to work without pay like you do now.” (Source for this and above: M. Larson / B. Moore in Notes on Translation February 1970, p. 1-125.)
Uma: “and if you are really my followers, you will really know the true teaching, with the result that you will be free.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “And you will know as to what is the truth from God. And this truth will free you from what is enslaving you.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “You will know the true doctrine, and by means of this you will be set free from slavery.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “You will come-to-know the truth concerning me, and by-means-of this truth, you will-be-set-free.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “You will really recognize the truth, and this truth is what will release you.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “And you will know the true word and the true word will save you.'” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Like many languages (but unlike Greek or Hebrew or English), Tuvan uses a formal vs. informal 2nd person pronoun (a familiar vs. a respectful “you”). Unlike other languages that have this feature, however, the translators of the Tuvan Bible have attempted to be very consistent in using the different forms of address in every case a 2nd person pronoun has to be used in the translation of the biblical text.
As Voinov shows in Pronominal Theology in Translating the Gospels (in: The Bible Translator2002, p. 210ff. ), the choice to use either of the pronouns many times involved theological judgment. While the formal pronoun can signal personal distance or a social/power distance between the speaker and addressee, the informal pronoun can indicate familiarity or social/power equality between speaker and addressee.
Here, Jesus is addressing his disciples, individuals and/or crowds with the formal pronoun, showing respect.
In most Dutch translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and common people with the informal pronoun, whereas they address him with the formal form.
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 formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).
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®).
According to Jewish teaching, the truth was found in their Law, and the study of the Law made a man free. Here the truth referred to is the revelation of God that Jesus brings. The intention once again is to contrast the revelation Jesus brings with the Law of Moses.
In the phrase know the truth, most translators prefer to render the Greek verb know; but Moffatt gives it the meaning, “understand,” and in Jerusalem Bible it is rendered “learn.”
On truth, see Appendix II.
In many languages it is not possible to speak about “knowing the truth.” Since the abstract “truth” must refer to some type of content, it is necessary to say “you will know what is true about God.” Similarly, in the following clause, one may say “and what is true about God will make you free” or “… will cause you to become free.” “Become free” may be understood in the sense of “be released” or “cause you to no longer be in bondage” or “… to be chained.” In some languages it may be expressed “this will cause you no longer to be slaves.” Such a translation fits well with the following verse.
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 .
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.