Translation types and niche translations: Comparing five Afrikaans translations

2021 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian J. Floor
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Work ◽  
Translation Studies ◽  
Translation Theory ◽  
Adequate Model ◽  
Bible Translations ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Reverse Situation ◽  
Market Niche ◽  
Translation Type

Before the introduction of the dynamic-equivalent translation method by Eugene Nida, most Bible translations, in terms of translation type, were literal and formal correspondence translations. With the expansion of Bible translation globally over the past 60 years, alternative translation types started to appear – sometimes claiming uniqueness and even superiority. That, in turn, led to a reverse situation where ‘literal only’ or ‘literal-superiority’ claims were made. This has been a cause for significant debate and controversy. The purpose of this comparison of translation types is to indicate how translations differ from each other on a continuum and to determine if some versions in Afrikaans align with translation typology. The method followed in this article is to classify translation types in two main groupings: more literal and more dynamic; and four subtypes: corresponding translations, resembling translations, clarifying translations, and simplifying translations. In light of this classification, five publications of the Bible in Afrikaans are compared to Bible publications in English and Dutch. This study has found that each of the five Afrikaans translations does fit under one of the four types for which the criteria were laid out. The finding was that the typology applied to Bible versions in English, Dutch and Afrikaans. This typology implies that translations from different types are not necessarily in competition with each other, but that they complement each other. Each version in Afrikaans has then been compared to each other in terms of an end-user market niche and, based on that, there seems to be a continuing need for versions in all the different types. Translations do improve over time as translation theory and source-language scholarship evolve, but the validity of each type and publications in each type argue for versions of several types to endure.Contribution: This article is not the first attempt to describe translation types. Several translators, as well as some functionalist translation studies did important scientific work in this regard. However, this article’s principal contribution to translation studies is to propose a simplified yet adequate model of four translation types with new terminology, terms which do not overlap but are descriptive of function. And then secondly, to align each type with scripture engagement and the translation niche.

scholarly journals Bible Translations in Sweden

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 1107-1123
Author(s):  
Irina V. Matytsina
Keyword(s):  
Textual Analysis ◽  
Translation Studies ◽  
Fundamental Principle ◽  
Scientific Data ◽  
Bible Translation ◽  
Bible Translations ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Swedish Text ◽  
Hearts And Minds ◽  
Average Readers

The article focuses on approaches to Bible translation that existed in Sweden in different periods. Special attention is payed to what is to date the latest translation in 2000 (Bible 2000). On the eve of celebration of the 500th anniversary of the first translation of the Gospels (1526) this topic is particularly relevant and discussed more and more actively in works by Swedish researchers, first and foremost because a new edition of the next Bible translation is planned in 2026. This tradition goes back to 1540-1541 when translation of the full Bible was printed, known as the Gustav Vasa Bible (Gustav Vasas Bibel), which has made an impact on the hearts and minds of Swedish people for almost four centuries and formed the basis of Standard Swedish. The approach declared by Luther has become a fundamental principle of Bible translations into Swedish: text must convey precisely the message, spirit and content of the original, not literally, however, but in the language that is clear to uneducated people. The Gustav Vasa Bible was reissued twice: in 1618 (the Gustav II Adolf Bible) and 1703 (the Charles XII Bible). Whats more, every new edition was redacted officially. In 1773 Gustav III established the Biblical Commission and requested to replace the outdated text with a new one. However, there were numerous changes in the Swedish Language during the XXth century. Besides, the development of linguistics and translation studies, as well as new scientific data have formed the basis of a new Bible translation project that was launched in 1972 and ended up with publishing the Bible-2000. The translation is the result of collaboration between numerous scholars and average readers. It took almost thirty years to perform the work. In the end, a text was created which most people think is unique, as it strives to convey the style of each particular book. However, there is obviously a gap between the new text and the centuries-old tradition of Bible translation, because after textual analysis was complete, scholars and translators often took decisions about how to render separate words and whole phrases. Their decisions had nothing in common with established practice. Consequently, critics consider that the text of Bible-2000 is often greatly oversimplified, everyday, lacking its solemn beauty and magnificence.

Semiotics East and West: an aesthetic-semiotic approach to translating the iconicity of classical Chinese poetry

Semiotica ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Guangxu Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Translation Studies ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Translation Theory ◽  
Chinese Poetry ◽  
Semiotic Approach ◽  
Classical Chinese ◽  
Classical Chinese Poetry ◽  
Set Up ◽  
The Sacrifice

Abstract For some Western translators before the twentieth century, domestication was their strategy to translate the classical Chinese poetry into English. But the consequence of this strategy was the sacrifice of the ideogrammic nature of these poems. The translators in the twentieth century, especially the Imagist poets and translators in the 1930s, overcame the problems of their predecessors and their translation theory and practice was close to that of the contemporary semiotic translators. But both Imagist translators and contemporary semiotic translators have the problem of indifference to the feeling of the original in their translations. For the problem of translating the classical Chinese poetry by the Westerners before the twentieth century and the Imagist poets and translators of the twentieth century, see Zhao and Flotow 2018. This paper attempts to set up an aesthetic-semiotic approach to the translation of the iconicity of classical Chinese poetry on the basis of the examination of both Eastern and Western translation studies.

scholarly journals History and theory of Scripture translations

2008 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Claude Loba-Mkole
Keyword(s):  
Frames Of Reference ◽  
Functional Equivalence ◽  
Historical Overview ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
Bible Translation ◽  
Bible Translations ◽  
The Bible ◽  
History And Theory

This article argues for the importance of Bible translations through its historical achievements and theoretical frames of reference. The missionary expansion of Christianity owes its very being to translations. The early Christian communities knew the Bible through the LXX translations while churches today still continue to use various translations. Translations shape Scripture interpretations, especially when a given interpretation depends on a particular translation. A particular interpretation can also influence a given translation. The article shows how translation theories have been developed to clarify and how the transaction source-target is culturally handled. The articles discuss some of these “theoretical frames”, namely the functional equivalence, relevance, literary functional equivalence and intercultural mediation. By means of a historical overview and a reflection on Bible translation theories the article aims to focus on the role of Africa in translation history.

Digitization of Bibles in Greater China (1661–1960)

2021 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-254
Author(s):  
Simon Wong
Keyword(s):  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Seventh Century ◽  
Indigenous Languages ◽  
Chinese Han ◽  
Greater China ◽  
Bible Translation ◽  
Eastern Christianity ◽  
Bible Translations ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Language Groups

Bible translations in (or for) Greater China may be classified into three categories: Chinese, Han dialects, and indigenous languages. All these language groups witness translation activities by Protestant missionaries. However, in its earliest history, Bible translation was pioneered by missionaries of Eastern Christianity in the seventh century or even earlier, whereas from the Catholic side, clear historical narrative has recorded Bible translation work in the thirteenth century by John of Montecorvino (1247–1328) into a Tatar language. Sadly, this work was not preserved. The earliest extant Bible translation in this vast area was published in 1661 in the Siriya language of Taiwan. This article reports on two major digitization projects: digitization of old Chinese Bibles (1707–1960), including 51 translations in total, and digitization of Bibles in Han dialects/fangyan and indigenous languages (1661–1960)—about 50 languages (including dialects) and 60 translations. These two projects represent the largest and most systematic full-text digitization of the Bible heritage of the area ever undertaken.

Conclusion

2021 ◽  
pp. 411-417
Author(s):  
Michah Gottlieb
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Social Acceptance ◽  
German Society ◽  
Bible Translations ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Final Goal ◽  
Counter Reformation ◽  
Economic Advancement

This chapter assesses the achievement of the Jewish Reformation by exploring Martin Buber’s and Franz Rosenzweig’s Jewish Counter-Reformation critique of it. Buber’s and Rosenzweig’s claim that the Jewish Reformation embodies a spiritually vacuous, craven account of Judaism whose final goal is social acceptance and economic advancement is rejected. It is argued that the Jewish Reformation Bible translations show security in a Judaism continuous with rabbinic tradition while Buber’s and Rosenzweig’s attempt to leap over rabbinic tradition to return to a “naked encounter” with the Bible evinces deep insecurity about their Judaism and their attempt to Germanicize the Bible reflects anxiety about the Jews’ place in German society. The dramatic, emotionally intense “archaic modernism” of Buber’s and Rosenzweig’s radical return to tradition is contrasted with the steady, learned spirituality of Mendelssohn’s, Zunz’s, and Hirsch’s middle-class Judaism.

Kognitive Textverarbeitung und Verstehen fürs Übersetzen

2021 ◽  
pp. 137-168
Author(s):  
Anna Pavlova
Keyword(s):  
Translation Studies ◽  
Translation Theory ◽  
Scholarly Work ◽  
Text Understanding ◽  
Key Features

There has been an increasing amount of published scholarly work on hermeneutics and translation studies. However, hardly any work has been done to connect hermeneutic approaches to translation and hermeneutic approaches to psycholinguistics. This essay accordingly seeks to identify some of the key features common to both translation theory and psycholinguistics. At issue is finding areas of interaction and overlap between these two areas of enquiry, especially in relation to the hermeneutic account of text understanding processes.

An interdisciplinary approach to neuropsychological test construction: Perspectives from translation studies

2010 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. ALLISON BENDER ◽  
ADOLFO MARTÍN GARCÍA ◽  
WILLIAM B. BARR
Keyword(s):  
Neuropsychological Test ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Translation Studies ◽  
Test Construction ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Translation Theory ◽  
Translation Error ◽  
Test Translation ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approaches ◽  
Assessment Measures

AbstractFew neuropsychological tests have been developed specifically for non-English speakers. Rather, assessment measures are often derived from English source texts (STs) and translated into foreign language target texts (TTs). An abundant literature describes the potential for translation error occurring in test construction. While the neuropsychology community has striven to correct these inadequacies, interdisciplinary approaches to test translation have been largely ignored. Translation studies, which has roots in linguistics, semiotics, computer science, anthropology, and philosophy, may provide a much-needed framework for test development. We aim to apply specific aspects of Descriptive Translation Studies to present unique and heretofore unapplied frameworks to the socio-cultural conceptualizations of translated tests. In doing so, a more theoretical basis for test construction will be explored. To this end, translation theory can provide valuable insights toward the development of linguistically and culturally relevant neuropsychological test measures suitable for an increasingly diverse patient base. (JINS, 2010, 16, 227–232.)

Zwischen Babel und Jerusalem: Aspekte von Sprache und Übersetzung

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 184-186
Author(s):  
Carsten Ziegert
Keyword(s):  
Bible Translations ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Dynamic Equivalent

SummaryIn eleven interdisciplinary contributions (four of them original ones) this volume offers a critique of dynamic-equivalent Bible translations. Theologians, philosophers and literary translators emphasise the significance of the Luther Bible. The concern for furthering knowledge and use of the Bible is obvious, but not all the viewpoints which are brought forward are convincing. A non-European missiological perspective is lacking.RésuméCet ouvrage contient onze contributions interdisciplinaires critiquant les traductions bibliques basées sur le principe de l’équivalence dynamique. Des théologiens, des philosophes et des traducteurs littéraires soulignent l’importance de la Bible de Luther. Le souci de promouvoir la connaissance biblique et l’usage de la Bible est évident, mais toutes les propositions avancées ne sont pas convaincantes. Une perspective missiologique non-européenne fait ici défaut.ZusammenfassungDer Sammelband präsentiert in elf interdisziplinären Beiträgen (davon vier Originalbeiträge) eine Kritik dynamisch-äquivalenter Bibelübersetzungen. Theologen, Philosophen und Literaturübersetzer heben die Bedeutung der Lutherbibel hervor. Das Anliegen, Bibelkenntnis und -gebrauch zu fördern, wird deutlich, doch nicht alle vorgetragenen Thesen sind überzeugend. Eine außereuropäische missiologische Perspektive fehlt.

The Concept of Equivalence in Translation Studies

Target ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra L. Halverson
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Translation Studies ◽  
Translation Theory ◽  
Points Of View

Abstract Within translation studies, there remains a certain amount of unnecessary discord concerning the use of the equivalence concept and its relevance for translation theory. In the interest of better understanding the various points of view, it seems helpful to consider different perspectives on this concept in light of the varying philosophical assumptions on which they are based. Analogies between the equivalence concept and a concept of scientific knowledge as it is and has been studied within the philosophy of science are highly informative in pointing out the philosophical issues involved in equivalence, translation, and knowledge. Rather than dismissing the concept as ill-defined or imprecise, it is in the interest of the field of translation studies to consider the origins and manifestations of this 'imprecision ' in order that we may be better informed and less inclined towards theoretical antagonism.

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