Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Numbers 28:25:
Kupsabiny: “All of you shall meet on the seventh day. A person must not do any work on this day.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Newari: “On the seventh day a Holy Assembly is to be held. On that day it is not allowed to do any daily work.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “On the seventh day, you (plur.) gather again to worship the LORD. And you (plur.) never work on that day.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “On the seventh day of that festival, you must again gather together to worship me, and you must not do any work.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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).
And on the seventh day you shall have a holy convocation: As on the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Israelites had to have a holy convocation (see verse 18) on its last day. Revised Standard Version follows the Hebrew text by placing the temporal phrase on the seventh day at the beginning of this clause, which seems to emphasize the sequence of seven days of ritual activities. However, Good News Translation places this phrase at the end of this clause, which emphasizes what is to be done now on the seventh day. The normal order of procedural discourse in the receptor language should be used here.
You shall do no laborious work: See verse 18.
Quoted with permission from de Regt, Lénart J. and Wendland, Ernst R. A Handbook on Numbers. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.