Lost (and Gained) in Translation

Some ideas are easily represented in any language, but more often than not translation requires sensitivity to a wide variety of often competing influences.

I just listened to a nice little story on NPR about the “Art of Translation.”

Bea Basso, who came from Italy to the United States in 2000 to study and work in theater, has done a lot of translating from Italian to English. She says that the choice of a single word can determine the arc of an entire work.

“There is no such thing as a literal translation, by nature of choosing one word or another, you influence the next step,” she says.

Listen to the whole story.

Because no two languages are alike, and since the cultural differences surrounding a language are often more than meets the eye, translation is more an art than a science. Translation always involves something lost and also something gained–some of the original is gone, but there is also often additional meaning in the translation that was not there in the text being translated. For proof, type in some text here. The results can be comic.

This is true of all translation, but with Greek (or Hebrew, or any other “dead” language) the matter is complicated by the fact that the original culture is no longer there for us to study. Translation suddenly intersects with historical research, sociology, theology, and a wealth of other disciplines, which is one reason it is so important for pastors to learn Greek.

Related posts:

1. Exegetical Insight, Lost Edition
2. Preach your Greek
3. How to Type in Greek Part III: The Best Greek Fonts
4. The Open Scriptures Project
5. New Features at Bible.Logos.com

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