Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Leviticus 17:12:
Kupsabiny: “So I am saying to all the people of Israel that no one among you or any foreigner who lives among you is allowed to eat any blood.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “So I have said to the Israelites– "It’s not OK for any of you to eat blood, nor is it OK for the foreigners who live with you to eat blood."” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “This is the reason why you (plur.) should not eat blood.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “That is why I say that you Israelis must not eat blood, and the foreigners who live among you must also not eat blood.” (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 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).
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.
I: again, the pronoun should be translated by the noun phrase “the LORD,” if indirect speech is being used as in verses 10 and 11.
Revised Standard Version has another direct quotation within the quotation of the words of the LORD. But this may be changed to indirect speech if it is more natural in the language. In that case translators should give attention to the necessary pronoun changes.
Eat blood: see verse 10.
Quoted with permission from Péter-Contesse, René and Ellington, John. A Handbook on Leviticus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1990. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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