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Some things this article doesn't touch on (although maybe the complete book does), which come up when translating into other languages. I'm not saying there are no solutions to these, but they are interesting (and for those who believe, important) questions.

1) How to translate names of animals and other concepts that are unfamiliar in the target culture, e.g. "sheep" into Inuit.

2) Whether to translate a given word in the same way in each instance of the word. Suppose you're translating into a Mayan language, where "bread" is an unfamiliar concept. Jesus refers to "breaking bread" (literal sense) and "the bread of life" (metaphorical sense, for which a translation as tortilla might be better).

3) How to translate a word where the target language makes unavoidable distinctions that the source language does not. In Tzeltal, there is a word for "older brother" and a word for "younger sibling", but no word for "brother, whether younger or older". When the Bible refers to Peter and his brother Andrew, which word do you use?

Lots more...



The issue of having not enough words in the target language is definitely a big one. In John 6:50-54 the original Greek uses different words for eating that have different connotations but will sometimes be rendered as the same word in English "eat" which takes away from the text. Relevant to Christian understanding of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.




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