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Bible Translation > Finding The Right Words  Sometimes
finding the right words in your own language can be difficult, but imagine
trying to find the right words in another language with no dictionary. Even
still, imagine the words to be intangible things such as faith, hope, and
love. This is the struggle for translators around the world as they search
for the right words to express the truth of God's Word. Yet when the right words are found, the message of God's Word is often made clearer, not only to the those speaking that language, but to the translator as well. The following are snapshots of how different words were translated and how these words clearly spoke truth to those who heard it in their language for the very first time. Forgiveness The Koonzimes of Cameroon had no word in their language for forgiveness. Their culture encouraged them to seek vengeance. Using stones, sticks or notches on beams, they kept an exact accounting of the wrongs done them. Keith and Mary Beavon used these "deed markers" to explain forgiveness: Remove the evil deed markers that you have counted out against each other as God has removed the evil deed markers which he has counted against you (Col. 3:13). Healer In the Hauna village of Papua New Guinea, traditional healers are called "spitters." Marilyn Laszlo remembers when they translated Mark 8: 23-24. One night after the men had assembled, Paul (a co-translator) read the day's translation from Mark 8:23-24: "Jesus took the blind man by the hand and let him out of the village. Then, spitting on the man's eyes, he laid his hands on him and asked, 'Can you see anything now?' the man looked around, 'Yes," he said" (NLT). "Aiyee!" the resident spitters interrupted. "Jesus did what?" Paul repeated, "Jesus spit on the man's eyes." These village leaders, most of them spitters, were astounded by Jesus' healing powers. From that moment on, the Hauna judges more closely identified with Jesus, "The Spitter." "Jesus is the greatest spitter who ever lived!" they declared. Breathe When Jesus met with His disciples after the Resurrection, He breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit" (John 20:22). Tim Carey was checking this verse with Western Cakchiquel translators, and asked them what they thought. "Does anyone in your culture ever breathe on another person?" he asked. "Well," said one, "not like the word for breathe we've used in this verse. But there is another kind of breathing. When we were kids, our grandmother would 'breathe' on us before we headed out for the day's activities. It was a blessing, a way to indicate she desired the very best for us. We also breathe on rocks that we use in slingshots, so the stone will be right on target." Tim sat back and pondered the mysteries of God. This Cakchiquel word has captured a truth not obvious in English. Jesus desired the very best for His disciples, and He wanted everything they did to be right on target. What more perfect blessing could Jesus have breathed into his disciples than the gift of new life, in the person of the Holy Spirit? Redemption Hans-Georg and Eva Wills were translators for the Me'en people of Ethiopia. In translating Romans 3:24-"and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus,"-they had to struggle with three key terms: "justified," "grace," and "redemption." For "redemption", the translation team drew on a well-known Me'en cultural practice. To avoid revenge for a serious crime, especially murder, the two clans involved meet on opposing riverbanks. During a special ceremony, an agreed-upon number of cows are given to the offended side, along with a young girl from the offender's clan, given for marriage. The girl is the guarantee that the peace pact is sealed. The ceremony is called asha. In Romans 3:24, the Me'en reads, yesusi kristosi Aoyde wuc shun den ke asha...or "because Jesus Christ gave his life/soul as an ahsa..." The term was well-received and proved to clearly communicate the message. Ransom Neil Anderson stumbled upon a similar translation solution for the Folopa people of Papua New Guinea. When translating Mark 10:43-45, Neil searched for how to translate the word "ransom". One of his co-translators suggested duputapo meaning "trade." He further explained the word by telling a story of how one man, Wotale, had accidentally killed a woman, and members of her clan came after him. His clan bothers brought out valuable objects normally never given up except in such cases. "As the stock of goods kept growing, the woman's clan didn't subside in their yelling threats, and Wotale's people were doing a lot of yelling back. It was all bargaining and bickering for how much it would take to pay for a life. It went on and on at high pitch until somebody from the women's clan yelled, 'Supo.'" Supo means "enough!' "Then the leader of the men's house said, 'Duputapo.' The trade was complete and Wotale could go free. Neil tested the word in a rough translation: "We were in jeopardy of being killed but Jesus came to make a trade. He gave His life up instead and we got to go free." "Duputapo." Hapele nodded. "And God said, 'Supo.'" "That's right." One of the old men had been listening intently. He leaned forward, a big kina shell swinging on his bare chest. "That's hard to believe," he said. "What is?" I said. "That duputapo was a person. In the past we've given a great deal to trade for a clan brother. A great deal. But we've never given a person. And a person would never give himself!" He looked around at the others, the whites of his eyes flaring in deep-set sockets. He leaned back with a sigh, like it was beyond his grasp. Then he said what they always say when things hit them at the deepest level: "We are dying of the deliciousness of this talk." God's talk truly is delicious! May we continue to feast on the goodness of God's Word, and may those who are still waiting also realize the deliciousness of God's talk. |
