“Sheep are known throughout most of the world, even though, as in Central Africa, they are a far cry from the fleecy wool-producing animals of colder climates. Where such animals are known, even by seemingly strange names, e.g. ‘cotton deer’ (Yucateco) or ‘woolly goat’ (Inupiaq), such names should be used. In some instances, one may wish to borrow a name and use a classifier, e.g. ‘an animal called sheep’. In still other instances translators have used ‘animal which produces wool’, for though people are not acquainted with the animals they are familiar with wool.” (Source: Bratcher / Nida)
In Dëne Súline, it is usually translated as “an evil little caribou.” To avoid the negative connotation, a loan word from the neighboring South Slavey was used. (Source: NCEM, p. 70)
Note that the often-alleged Inuktitut translation of “sheep” with “seal” is an urban myth (source Nida 1947, p. 136).
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “Sabbath” in English is rendered as “day we rest” in Tzotzil, in Mairasi as “Jew’s Rest Day,” in Quiotepec Chinantec as “day when people of Israel rested,” in Shilluk as “day of God,” in Obolo as Usen Mbuban or “Holy Day,” and in Mandarin Chinese as ānxírì (安息日) or “rest day” (literally: “peace – rest – day”). (Sources: Tzotzil: Marion Cowan in Notes on Translation with Drill, p. 169ff; Mairasi: Enggavoter 2004; Quiotepec Chinantec: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.; Shilluk: Nida 1964, p. 237; Obolo: Enene Enene; Chinese: Jost Zetzsche)
In Matumbi it is translated as Sabato ya Ayahudi or “Sabbath of the Jews,” to distinguish it from the Islamic Sabbath (which is Friday) or the Christian Sabbath (which is Sunday). (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
In the old Khmer version as well as in the first new translation this term was rendered as “day of rest” (Thngai Chhup Somrak / ថ្ងៃឈប់សំរាក). Considered inadequate to convey its religious meaning (not only about cessation of work, but also in honor of Yahweh as the Creator), the committee for the Today’s Khmer Version (publ. 2005) decided to keep the Hebrew word and use its transliterated form Thgnai Sabath (ថ្ងៃសប្ប័ទ). “The Buddhist word Thngai Seil ‘day of merits’ used by some Catholics was once under consideration but was rejected because it did not receive unanimous support.” (Source: Joseph Hong in The Bible Translator 1996, p. 233ff. )
In Spanish, the translation is either día de reposo (“day of rest”) or sábado (usually: “Saturday,” derived from the Greek and Hebrew original. Nida (1947, p. 239f.) explains that problem for Spanish and other languages in its sphere of influence: “In translation ‘Sabbath’ into various aboriginal languages of Latin America, a considerable number of translators have used the Spanish sábado, ‘Saturday,’ because it is derived from the Hebrew sabbath and seems to correspond to English usage as well. The difficulty is that sábado means only ‘Saturday’ for most people. There is no religious significance about this word as the is with ‘Sabbath’ in English. Accordingly the [readers] cannot understand the significance of the persecution of Jesus because he worked on ‘Saturday.’ It has been found quite advantageous to use the translation ‘day of rest,’ for this accurately translated the Hebrew meaning of the term and resolves the problem in connection with the prohibitions placed upon some types of activities.”
In French Sign Language it is translated with a sign that depicts closing of the blinds of a store:
Following are a number of back-translations of Matthew 12:11:
Uma: “Yesus answered: ‘For example we (incl.) have a sheep, and that sheep falls into a hole on the day of worship, would we (incl.) leave it in the hole! Wouldn’t we (incl.) lift it out, even on the worship day!” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Isa answered he said, ‘What do you do if for example you have only one sheep and it falls into the well on a day-of-no-work? Do you not get it out even though it is a day-of-no-work?” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And Jesus answered, ‘If there is a sheep of any of us and it falls into a pit on the Day of Rest, it is not possible that he does not lift it out of that pit even if it is the Day of Rest.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Jesus answered saying, ‘All-right now supposing (lit. go-ahead please if) you have a sheep that falls into a pit on the day for-resting, you go pull-it -out, is it not so?” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Jesus replied saying, ‘Supposing anyone of you had a sheep which happened to fall into a well on the Day of Rest, wouldn’t he rescue it?” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Jesus said: ‘What do you do when you have a sheep and it falls into a hole on the day of rest? You know you at once pull it out even though it is the day of rest.” (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 religious leaders with the formal pronoun, showing respect. Compare that with the typical address with the informal pronoun of the religious leaders.
The only two exceptions to this are Luke 7:40/43 and 10:26 where Jesus uses the informal pronoun as a response to the sycophantic use of the formal pronoun by the religious leaders (see formal pronoun: religious leaders addressing Jesus).
In most Dutch translations, the same distinctions are made, with the exception of Luke 10:26 where Jesus is using the formal pronoun. In Afrikaans and Western Frisian the informal pronoun is used throughout.
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 show different degree of politeness is through the usage of an honorific construction where the morphemes rare (られ) or are (され) are 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. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
He said to them: Good News Translation identifies the subject, saying “Jesus answered.”
What man of you is the beginning of a long hypothetical question; that is, it pictures an event that may or may not happen to any one of his hearers. New Jerusalem Bible translates “If any one of you,” and Good News Translation “What if one of you.”
Pit can be “big hole” or “deep hole.”
Will not lay hold of it and lift it out? translates a rhetorical question in Greek which implies an emphatic positive response: “Any of us would take hold of it and lift it out.”
Good News Translation attempts to ease the difficulty of the lengthy negative question by dividing it into two questions, the second of which is an answer to the first. However, it may be better still to reply to the first question with a statement: “What if one of you … on the Sabbath? You would certainly take hold of it and lift it out.” Or a complete shift away from the question form will perhaps be even clearer: “If any one of you has a sheep and it falls … you would surely take hold of it and lift it out.”
There are actually many ways to handle long, hypothetical questions like this, and translators should consider carefully the demands of the receptor languages. Here are some more examples: “Suppose one of you has a sheep, and it falls into a hole on a day of rest. What would you do? You would take hold of it and lift it out (wouldn’t you?),” “If any of you had one sheep and it fell into a big hole on the day of rest, wouldn’t you take hold of it and lift it out?” and “Any one of you, if you had a sheep and it fell into a deep hole on a Sabbath, you would surely take hold of it and lift it out.”
Note that the text seems to indicate that this hypothetical person has only one sheep. A clause like “If you had a sheep that fell” may indicate that it was one of many he had.
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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 show 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). (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
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