child, children

The Greek that is translated in English as “children” (in “a teacher of children”) is translated into Aari as “those who in their thoughts are like children.”

truth

The Greek, Latin and Hebrew that is usually translated in English as “truth” is translated in Luchazi with vusunga: “the quality of being straight” (source: E. Pearson in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 160ff. ), in Obolo as atikọ or “good/correct talk” (source: Enene Enene), and in Ekari as maakodo bokouto or “enormous truth” (esp. in John 14:6 and 17; bokouto — “enormous” — is being used as an attribute for abstract nouns to denote that they are of God [see also here]; source: Marion Doble in The Bible Translator 1963, p. 37ff. ).

The translation committee of the Malay “Good News Bible” (Alkitab Berita Baik, see here ) wrestled with the translation of “truth” in the Gospel of John (for more information click or tap here):

“Our Malay Committee also concluded that ‘truth’ as used in the Gospel of John was used either of God himself, or of God’s revelation of himself, or in an extended sense as a reference to those who had responded to God’s self-disclosure. In John 8:32 the New Malay translation reads ‘You will know the truth about God, and the truth about God will make you free.’ In John 8:44 this meaning is brought out by translating, ‘He has never been on the side of God, because there is no truth in him.’ Accordingly Jesus ‘tells the truth about God’ in 8:45, 46 (see also 16:7 and 8:37a). Then, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life’ becomes ‘I am the one who leads men to God, the one who reveals who and what God is, and the one who gives men life.” At 3:21 the translation reads ” … whoever obeys the truth, that is God himself, comes to the light …’; 16:13a appears as ‘he will lead you into the full truth about God’; and in 18:37 Jesus affirms ‘I came into the world to reveal the truth about God, and whoever obeys God listens to me.’ On this basis also 1:14 was translated ‘we saw his glory, the glory which he had as the Father’s only Son. Through him God has completely revealed himself (truth) and his love for us (grace)’; and 1:17 appears as ‘God gave the law through Moses; but through Jesus Christ he has completely revealed himself (truth) and his love for us (grace).'” (Source: Barclay Newman in The Bible Translator 1974, p. 432ff. )

Helen Evans (in The Bible Translator 1954, p. 40ff. ) tells of the translation into Kui which usually is “true-thing.” In some instances however, such as in the second part of John 17:17 (“your word is truth” in English), the use of “true-thing” indicated that there might be other occasions when it’s not true, so here the translation was a a form of “pure, holy.”

complete verse (Romans 2:20)

Following are a number of back-translations of Romans 2:20:

  • Uma: “We say/think that we are the ones who are smart to lead-by-the-hand people who don’t know God, we are the ones who can enlighten [lit., make clear] those who are still in the darkness and who do not yet know the true teaching. For it is with us Jews that there is the main knowledge and true teaching that is written in the Lord’s Law.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Because God’s law is there with you, which is only the true teaching, you say that you know how to teach the foolish ones and the ones ignorant about God.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “You think mistakenly that you are the ones who are able to teach people who do not really know about God. And you also think mistakenly that you are the ones to teach people who have just begun to study what is right. The reason you think this way is because God entrusted the Law to you and very correct is the wisdom and very true is the doctrine which comes from it.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “You also know for-sure that you have the ability to advise and teach people who are like children, because they have not been taught and they don’t know what is correct. You say/think that, because you admittedly know God’s law which is the location of what is correct and true.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “They say that they know well how to teach people who do not know anything. They say they know well how to educate people who do not know the word. Because there in the law they say that there is all the true word which they use to teach people.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

law

The Greek that is translated in English as “Law” or “law” is translated in Mairasi as oro nasinggiei or “prohibited things” (source: Enggavoter 2004) and in Noongar with a capitalized form of the term for “words” (Warrinya) (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang).

In Yucateco the phrase that is used for “law” is “ordered-word” (for “commandment,” it is “spoken-word”) (source: Nida 1947, p. 198) and in Central Tarahumara it is “writing-command.” (wsource: Waterhouse / Parrott in Notes on Translation October 1967, p. 1ff.)

See also teaching / law (of God) (Japanese honorifics).

Translation commentary on Romans 2:20

The word translated instructor (equivalent in the present context to “teacher”) may also have the meaning of “one who punishes,” a meaning which it does have in Hebrews 12.9, its only other occurrence in the New Testament. Some translators render this noun by a verb (An American Translation* “train the foolish”). The term foolish refers more to moral than to intellectual weakness, and for this reason renderings such as “ignorant” (Jerusalem Bible) and “stupid” (New English Bible) may be misleading to the reader. The concept of moral weakness may be expressed in some languages as “those whose hearts are weak” or “those whose hearts are twisted.”

The word rendered young (so also An American Translation*) may have the connotation of “immature” (New English Bible). The young may be rendered in some languages as “those who as yet have not learned” or “those who still need instruction.”

Full content translates a word in Greek that is rendered “embodiment” in most translations. The only other place where this Greek word occurs in the New Testament is 2 Timothy 3.15, where it has the meaning of “the outward form.” In the New English Bible this is rendered “the very shape (of knowledge and truth).”

Since in many languages the rendering of knowledge and of truth must be rather radically altered, the expression of full content may be indicated by an adverbial attributive—for example, “You are certain that because you have the law you know everything completely and what you say is absolutely true.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1973. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .