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 Nepali translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and other people with the medium honorific pronoun timīlē (तिमीले) or timīlēharū (तिमीलेहरू). His disciples respond with a high honorific pronoun. (Source: Chitra Chhetri in The Bible Translator 2009, p. 73ff. )
In most Dutch translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and common people with the informal pronoun, whereas they address him with the formal form.
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 12:55:
Noongar: “And when the south wind blows, you say, ‘Today will be hot’, and the day becomes hot.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “If the wind blows from the south, you say there will be a drought, and it is definitely thus.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “And when the south wind blows, you say, the sun/day will be hot, and finally it will be hot.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And when the wind blows, coming from the south, then you say, ‘It’s really going to be hot today.’ And it really is hot.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “If you know also that the wind is coming from the south, you say, ‘It will probably get-extremely -hot,’ and it becomes-true.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “And then if a wind blows from the south, you say it will get hot. Well, it truly will get hot.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
According to Anne Garber Kompaoré (in Le Sycomore 3/2009, p. 34ff. ), there are 4 ways to identify cardinal directions:
1. celestial bodies, especially the sun and certain stars
2. geographical landmarks, for example a mountain, sea, or river (depending on its position or the direction in which the water flows) etc.
3. climatic phenomena, such as the wind and the direction from which rain comes
4. bodily reference points, especially front, back, left, and right, in relation to celestial bodies or geographical landmarks
Following are examples of how these are practically implemented by various languages: (click or tap here to see the rest of this insight)
Celestial Bodies
East and west are often translated by the rising and the setting of the sun (note that the origin of English and other Indo-European languages is “dawn” for “east” and “evening” [i.e. sun-down] for “west”):
Maan: “where the sun comes up” and “where the sun goes down” (source: Don Slager)
Kankanaey: “from the coming-out of the sun “and “going-away of the sun” (source: Kankanaey back-translation)
Northern Emberá: “from where the sun comes up” and “from where the sun falls” (source: Charles Mortensen)
Ejamat “the side where the sun comes from” and “the side where it sets” (source: David Frank in this blog post )
Tzeltal: “where the sun pours-out” (west) (source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
Northern Ngbandi: “the sun behind the chief’s house” (east — the chief lives traditionally at the eastern side of the village, therefore he does not get the sunlight into his eyes) and “under the sun” (west)
Northwestern Dinka: “earth behind” (east — the place behind the earth, i.e. the area where the sun rises)
Jula: “salt village” (north — because salt comes from the north, from the Sahara Desert) and “kola village” (south — since kola comes from the coastal region to the south) (source: Garber Kompaoré)
Matumbi: “toward the beach” (East) (the coast is in the eastern direction in Matumbi-speaking areas), “north” and “south” can be defined as above or below another place (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
Acoli: “right” (of the local White Nile) (north) and “left” (of the White Nile) (south)
Zande: “interior (dry) land” (east); “place-inside-country” (north / south) — Zande, like a number of other languages, including Matengo and Hehe, traditionally only has three cardinal directions.
Belanda Bor: “lower place” (north) and “higher place” (south)
Turkana: “(up)stream” (north) and (down)stream (south)
Mono (DRC): “water place” (south) (source for this and five above: Mietzner / Pasch)
Climatic Phenomena
Shilluk: “opening westwind” (north) and “opening eastwind” (south)
Swahili used to have six directions. In reducing them to four, kusini and kaskazini which used to refer to south-west and north east respectively (the directions from where the two monsoons blow) have become the terms for “south” and north.” (source for this and one above: Mietzner / Pasch)
Bodily Reference Points
Nuer / Burun: “face” and “sun face” respectively (both: east)
Kalenjin: “eye sun” (east) (this and the one above indicate that the sun is “facing” the spectator from its position in the east:
Shilluk: doesn’t use a fixed position of the speaker, instead it has “eye sun morning” for east and “eye sun evening” for west
Mono (DRC): “foot-sun” (east — the start of the sun’s journey)
Burun: “sun leg” (west — the end of the sun’s journey)
Bari: “back” (north — when people are facing south, north is at their back) (source for this and above: Mietzner / Pasch)
Northern Emberá “the looking [left] hand” (north) and “the real [right] hand” (south) (source: Charles Mortensen)
Morelos Nahuatl: “from above” (north) and “from below” (south) (source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)
When all four directions are mentioned, translators tend to avoid listing the four, sometimes verbose terms, and chose solutions like “all directions” (such as in Maan or Manya (source: Don Slager). Yakan has “from the four corners of the earth” (source: Yakan back-translation) and Western Bukidnon Manobo “from the four directions here on the earth” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo back-translation).
The Hebrew text that gives instructions where to place items in the tabernacle with the help of cardinal directions (north and south) had to be approached in the Bambam translation specific to spacial concepts of that culture. Phil Campbell explains: “There are no words in Bambam for north and south. In Exodus 26:35, God instructs that the table is to be placed on the north side and the lamp on the south side inside the tabernacle. The team wants to use right and left to tell where the lamp and table are located. In many languages we would say that the table is on the right and the lampstand is on the left based on the view of someone entering the tabernacle. However, that is not how Bambam people view it. They view the placement of things and rooms in a building according to the orientation of someone standing inside the building facing the front of the building. So that means the table is on the left side and the lampstand is on the right side.”
elegen de kai tois ochlois ‘he also said to the crowds,’ marking the transition to a new point.
hotan idēte [tēn] nephelēn anatellousan epi dusmōn ‘when you see a cloud coming up in the west.’ nephelē is used here in the sense of rain-cloud. The article tēn (if read) is generic.
anatellō ‘to rise’ (of the sun), here ‘to come up.’
dusmē (also 13.29) lit. ‘going down,’ ‘setting’ (of the sun), in the plural ‘the west,’ ‘the western horizon.’
eutheōs legete ‘you say at once, or, promptly.’
hoti Ombros erchetai ‘a rain-storm is coming,’ i.e. ‘it is going to rain.’ hoti introduces direct speech. erchetai, present tense, refers to the immediate future.
ombros ‘rain-storm,’ ‘thunder-storm.’
kai ginetai houtōs ‘and so it happens,’ i.e. as expressed in ombros erchetai.
(V. 55) kai hotan noton pneonta, scil. idēte ‘and when (you see) the south wind blowing.’ For notos cf. on 11.31.
pneō ‘to blow.’
legete hoti Kausōn estai ‘you say: there will be heat.’
kausōn ‘burning,’ ‘heat,’ ‘heat wave.’
kai ginetai ‘and it happens,’ i.e. what you have said.
Translation:
When you see…, you say at once, or, ‘as soon as you see…, then you say’ (Balinese, similarly in v. 55).
A cloud rising in the west, or ‘that clouds are rising in (or, from) the west.’ In Palestine the west, i.e. the side of the Mediterranean, is the normal place for rain-clouds to gather (cf. e.g. 1 Kings 18.44); where the situation is entirely different an explanatory note may be required. The same holds true for “south wind” and “heat” in v. 55. Some idiomatic expressions for rain-clouds rising are, ‘air becomes closed (i.e. with clouds)’ (Tzeltal), ‘sky makes hedges’ (Zarma). For west: ‘where the sun pours-out’ (Tzeltal), ‘down-river’ (Kele).
A shower is coming, or, ‘heavy rain is coming/near,’ ‘a rain-storm is-passing’ (Toraja-Sa’dan).
And so it happens, or repeating the term in the preceding clause, ‘and rain it does’ (cf. New English Bible), ‘and the rain really comes (presently).’
(V. 55) See, or, ‘know/notice’ (Javanese), “feel” (Good News Translation).
The south wind blowing. Idiom may require, ‘it is blowing from the south,’ ‘a wind coming from the south’ (Sundanese), ‘a strong wind from the south’ (Javanese). For south see 11.31.
There will be scorching heat, or, ‘it will be very hot,’ ‘the sun will hurt very much’ (Tzeltal), ‘the heavens will become scorching-hot’ (Kele). In some cases the term for ‘dry season’ can be used (Tae,’ Batak Toba; also in Toraja-Sa’dan, which speaks of ‘the time when the rains cease, or, stay away’).
And it happens, or, again repeating the preceding term, ‘and hot it is’ (cf. The Four Gospels – a New Translation).
Quoted with permission from Reiling, J. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on the Gospel of Luke. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1971. For this and other handbooks for translators see here . Make sure to also consult the Handbook on the Gospel of Mark for parallel or similar verses.
And when the south wind blows, you say, ‘It will be hot,’ and it is: In Israel, the hot and dry weather comes from the south and east. Whenever the wind would blow into Israel from that direction, the people knew that it would soon become hot. And that is what would happen.
Some languages use verbs to refer to wind and temperature. For example:
When it brings-wind from the south, you say that it will-become-hot.
Use natural expressions in your language for wind and weather.
you say, ‘It will be hot’: As in the previous verse, in some languages it may be more natural to use an indirect quotation here. For example:
you say/predict that it is going to be hot
and it is: The phrase and it is means “and the weather soon becomes hot” or “and the temperature soon rises.” As in the previous verse, the Berean Standard Bible uses a general expression to indicate that the person’s prediction was accurate. You may also use a specific expression for warmer weather that is natural in your language.
General Comment on 12:54–55
In some languages it will be helpful to add a footnote that explains the weather situation in Israel. For example:
In the land of Israel, the rain comes from the direction of the Mediterranean Sea in the west. In the south of the country there is a large desert area, so when the wind comes from the south, the weather becomes hot.
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