In Garifuna the second person singular pronoun (“you” in English) has two forms. One is used in women’s speech and one in men’s speech. In the Garifuna Bible the form used in men’s speech is typically used, except when it’s clear that a woman is quoted or in Psalms where the women on the translation team insisted that the form used in women’s speech (buguya) would be used throughout the whole book.
Ronald Ross (in Omanson 2001, p. 375f.) tells the story: “Throughout most of the translation, [the distinctions between the different forms of the pronouns] presented no problem. Whenever the speaker in the text was perceived as a man, the male speech forms were used; and when a woman was speaking, the female speech forms were used. True, the women members of the translation team did object on occasion to the use of the male forms when the author (and narrator) of a book was unknown and the men translators had used the male speech forms as the default. Serious discord arose, however, during the translation of the Psalms because of their highly devotional nature and because throughout the book the psalmist is addressing God. The male translators had, predictably, used the male form to address God, and the male form to refer to the psalmist, even though women speakers of Garifuna never use those forms to address anyone. The women contended that they could not as women read the Psalms meaningfully if God and the psalmist were always addressed as if the readers were men. The men, of course, turned the argument around, claiming that neither could they read the Psalms comfortably if the reader was assumed to be a woman.
“Initially there seemed to be no way out of this impasse. However a solution was found in the ongoing evolution of the language. There is a strong propensity for male speech and female speech to merge in favor of the latter, so the few remaining male forms are gradually dying out. Moreover, male children learn female speech from their mothers and only shift to the male speech forms when they reach adolescence to avoid sounding effeminate. However they use the female form buguya when addressing their parents throughout life. So the women wielded two arguments: First, the general development of the language favored the increasing use of the female forms. Secondly, the female forms are less strange to the men than the male forms are to the women, because the men habitually use them during early childhood and continue to use them to address their parents even in adulthood. Therefore, the female pronominal forms prevailed and were adopted throughout the book of Psalms, though the male forms remained the default forms in the rest of the translation.”
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 102:12:
Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
“But You Jehovah, you are on your kingship chair forever;
your reputation is known to all generations.” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
Newari:
“But, O LORD, You are king forever.
Your name will exist from generation to generation.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon:
“But you (sing.) on-the-other-hand, LORD, reigns without end;
you (sing.) will-be-remembered by the people forever/[lit. until whenever].” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
Laarim:
“But you, LORD, you are staying in your chair forever,
your glory remains among your people now and those who will come in the future.” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
“Lakini wewe, ee BWANA,
uko mfalme milele na milele,
watu wanakusifu katika vizazi vyote.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
English:
“But Yahweh, you are our king who rules forever;
people who are not yet born will remember you.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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. When the referent is God, the “divine” honorific prefix mi- (御 or み) can be used, as in mi-za (御座), mi-kura (みくら) (Psalm 7:7), or mi-kurai (御位) (Psalm 113:5) in the referenced verses, all relating to the “throne (or: high seat) (of God)”. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
Translators of different languages have found different ways with what kind of formality God is addressed. The first example is from a language where God is always addressed distinctly formal whereas the second is one where the opposite choice was made.
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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.
In these verses, in which humans address God, the informal, familiar pronoun is used that communicates closeness.
Voinov notes that “in the Tuvan Bible, God is only addressed with the informal pronoun. No exceptions. An interesting thing about this is that I’ve heard new Tuvan believers praying with the formal form to God until they are corrected by other Christians who tell them that God is close to us so we should address him with the informal pronoun. As a result, the informal pronoun is the only one that is used in praying to God among the Tuvan church.”
In Gbaya, “a superior, whether father, uncle, or older brother, mother, aunt, or older sister, president, governor, or chief, is never addressed in the singular unless the speaker intends a deliberate insult. When addressing the superior face to face, the second person plural pronoun ɛ́nɛ́ or ‘you (pl.)’ is used, similar to the French usage of vous.
Accordingly, the translators of the current version of the Gbaya Bible chose to use the plural ɛ́nɛ́ to address God. There are a few exceptions. In Psalms 86:8, 97:9, and 138:1, God is addressed alongside other “gods,” and here the third person pronoun o is used to avoid confusion about who is being addressed. In several New Testament passages (Matthew 21:23, 26:68, 27:40, Mark 11:28, Luke 20:2, 23:37, as well as in Jesus’ interaction with Pilate and Jesus’ interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well) the less courteous form for Jesus is used to indicate ignorance of his position or mocking (source Philip Noss).
In Dutch and Western Frisian translations, however, God is always addressed with the formal pronoun.
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, tsuiteo-rare-ru (着いておられる) or “arriving” is used.
In the hymn of praise (verses 12-22) the psalmist proclaims Yahweh’s power as king, a fact never to be forgotten. In verse 12a Good News Translation “are king” translates the verb “to sit”; as in 9.7 (which see), the idea may be “to remain, abide,” and that is how New American Bible translates it here. But it is better to understand it to mean “sit (on your throne as king),” that is, to be enthroned (Revised Standard Version).
In verse 12b name translates the Hebrew “memorial, remembrance,” as in 97.12 (see also 30.4); New English Bible and New Jerusalem Bible have here “fame.” Instead of the Masoretic text “your memorial,” some Hebrew manuscripts have “your throne” (as in Lam 5.19). The statement “your memorial (or, fame) (is) to generation and generation” means “your fame will last forever.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch translates “all generations will speak of you” (similarly Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). Biblia Dios Habla Hoy is like Good News Translation: “your name will always be remembered.” All generations, as used in the Good News Translation sense, may be rendered “all people not yet born” or “everyone still to be born.”
The psalmist’s thoughts now turn to Jerusalem (Zion); she is destroyed (verse 14a) and in ruins (verse 14b), but the Israelites (thy servants) love her and have pity on her. In verse 13b-c time and appointed time are synonymous; the situation seems to be the Babylonian exile, and the expectation is that God will take the exiles back home. The words her stones and her dust indicate that Jerusalem has been destroyed, and so the psalmist affirms that now is the right time for Yahweh to act, for him to restore Jerusalem (see verse 16a). For arise, used of God, see 3.7; 7.6. For idiomatic translation suggestions concerning have pity, see 72.13.
Favor her in the expression it is the time to favor her means “to comfort, be kind, be merciful, to treat tenderly,” and in some languages it may be expressed, for example, “to cause her to be happy,” “to make her feel good,” or idiomatically sometimes, “to give her a cool heart.”
The translator will note how Good News Translation has restructured verse 14 by comparing it with Revised Standard Version. Stones and dust have been made into two concessive clauses related to “servants love” and “they have pity.” Some such restructuring as this is necessary if the reader is not to think of literal stones and dust.
Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Reyburn, William D. A Handbook on the Book of Psalms. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1991. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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