answer (Japanese honorifics)

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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 to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017.

In these verses, the Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “answer” in English is translated in the Shinkaiyaku Bible as o-kotae (お答え), combining “come” (kotae) with the respectful prefix o-. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

2nd person pronoun with low register (Japanese)

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 second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used anata (あなた) is typically used when the speaker is humbly addressing another person.

In these verses, however, omae (おまえ) is used, a cruder second person pronoun, that Jesus for instance chooses when chiding his disciples. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also first person pronoun with low register and third person pronoun with low register.

Translation commentary on Mark 14:61

Exegesis:

esiōpa (cf. 3.4) ‘he remained silent,’ ‘he maintained silence.’

ouk apekrinato ouden literally ‘he did not answer nothing’: in Greek the double negative is emphatic (and not, as in some languages, equivalent to an affirmative).

su ei ho christos…; ‘are you the Messiah?’: the personal pronoun su ‘you’ is emphatic (cf. Le Nouveau Testament. Version Synodale C’est toi qui es le Christ…?). Taylor suggests it may be also contemptuous.

ho christos (cf. 1.1) ‘the Messiah,’ ‘the Anointed One’: here, as in 8.29; 12.35; 13.21, a title.

No indication is given in the question of the answer expected.

ho huios tou eulogētou ‘the Son of the Blessed (One).’

ho huios (cf. 1.1) ‘the Son.’

ho eulogētos (only here in Mark; cf. eulogeō 6.41) ‘the Blessed One’: this is a familiar Jewish way of referring to God, avoiding reference to the holy, unpronounceable name of God by using a title. The whole phrase usually employed was ‘the Holy One, Blessed is He.’ In the New Testament eulogētos is always used of God (Lk. 1.68, Rom. 1.25, 9.5, 2 Cor. 1.3, 11.31, Eph. 1.3, 1 Pet. 1.3).

Translation:

He was silent and made no answer is in a sense repetitious, but the redundancy is purposeful and emphatic and hence should be treated as such in any translation, e.g. ‘he kept silent; he did not speak’ or ‘he did not open his mouth; he did not answer with a single word.’

The Son of the Blessed is an extremely complex phrase and subject to ready misinterpretation. For example, in many languages this passage has been understood to be a reference to the blessed Virgin. In such instances one may be required to add the word ‘God,’ e.g. ‘Son of God, who is blessed.’

For discussion of some of the problems involving the translation of bless see 6.41 and 11.9-10, but note that in this passage bless refers to an activity of a lower personage to a higher one, namely, man’s blessing of God. Blessing in this type of context is often rendered (1) by a term such as ‘praise’ or ‘honor,’ or (2) by direct discourse, e.g. ‘say: he is very good.’ The following translations of this expression are typical, e.g. ‘Son of the honored one’ (Amganad Ifugao), ‘Son of God whom people worship’ (Sapo), ‘Son of one very much his goodness is said about him by us’ (Tzeltal), ‘Son of the one whom we praise’ (Cashibo-Cacataibo, Central Tarahumara), and ‘Son of the one people say, He is very good’ (Tzotzil).

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of Mark. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1961. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator's Notes on Mark 14:61

14:61a

But Jesus remained silent and made no reply: In this context the Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as But introduces a contrast. Jesus behaved in a way that the high priest did not expect. He expected Jesus to defend himself. But Jesus said nothing, even though he was innocent. Jesus knew that what the men said against him was not valid evidence. Therefore he did not need to defend himself against them.

In some cultures people may think that Jesus did not defend himself because he was guilty or afraid. If this is true in your culture, you may want to indicate explicitly that Jesus was innocent. For example:

But even though he was not guilty, Jesus did not say anything.

remained silent and made no reply: The phrases remained silent and made no reply have almost the same meaning. In some languages it may be more natural to use one expression rather than two. For example:

But Jesus said nothing at all to the high priest.
-or-
But Jesus gave no answer to defend himself.

14:61b

Again the high priest questioned Him: The phrase Again the high priest questioned Him here indicates that the high priest asked Jesus another question. The words do not imply that the high priest asked Jesus the same question again. The Contemporary English Version says:

The high priest asked him another question (Contemporary English Version)

14:61c

Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?: Here the high priest asked Jesus to tell him and the rest of the council whether he was the Messiah, the Son of God.

Christ: The Jews used the title Christ to refer to the special person whom God had appointed and promised to send as king and savior. The title Christ is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word “Messiah,” and the two words have the same meaning.

Here are some other ways to translate Christ:

• Transliterate it according to the sounds of your language. For example:

Krais
-or-
Karisiti

• Transliterate it and indicate in some way that it is a title. For example:

the Christ
-or-
the Kirisita

• Transliterate Christ and include a phrase that explains the meaning. For example:

Christ, the appointed one
-or-
Cristo, the savior God promised
-or-
the Christ who comes from God

If you do not indicate the meaning of Christ in the text, you may want to include the information in a footnote. For example:

The word/title “Christ” refers to the King and Savior whom God had promised to send.

See how you translated Christ in 1:1 and 12:35c. See also Christ in the Glossary.

Son of the Blessed One: The expression Son of the Blessed One was another way to refer to the Messiah. This person was sometimes referred to as a “son of God.”

the Blessed One: The Jews often did not use God’s name when they referred to him. The expression the Blessed One is one way to refer to God without using his name.

The word Blessed here means “praised,” “honored,” or “worshiped.” For example you could say:

Are you the Messiah, the son of the One whom we honor/worship?

If it is not clear in your language that Blessed One refers to God, you may need to refer to him explicitly. For example:

Are you the Messiah, the son of God whom we praise?

If you follow a model like this, be sure that the phrase “whom we praise” refers to God and not to the Messiah. See bless, Meaning 3, in the Glossary.

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