Comments on: The other WBT you didn’t know about

By: Why blogging isn’t as dead as I say it is | lingamish

Why blogging isn’t as dead as I say it is | lingamish — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 09:39:16 +0000

[...] to a post on Better Bibles Blog, there is now a SWORD module available (currently being tested) for the Portuguese New [...]

By: John Andersen

John Andersen — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:58:52 +0000

Bill,

Those are both NTs. The only difference is the cover. The harmony of the Gospels can be found as ERVLOJ101 here–http://67.225.170.47/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=WBTC&Product_Code=ERVLOJ101&Category_Code=ENG and as ERVLOJ102 here– http://67.225.170.47/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=WBTC&Product_Code=ERVLOJ102&Category_Code=ENG

By: bill

bill — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 03:54:05 +0000

I’ve seen “Easy English” translations before. But they were stilted, awkward, ugly things. What I love about this ERV translation, based on admittedly a cursory reading, is how lovely it “sounds”! This is a Bible I’d love reading out loud to children.

Also, they have for download a lovely harmony of the Gospels. The pdf shows a well-designed single-column reading format. But I don’t see it available for purchase in a bound copy, UNLESS that is the difference between the ER102 and the ER103 New Testaments. If the WBTC folks are still following this blog, can they inform what is the difference in those 2 NTs?

By: David Ker

David Ker — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:04:44 +0000

Brian, I took you up on your offer. I’ve got an email sent off to you about Portuguese. Hallelujah!!!

By: Brian McLemore

Brian McLemore — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:04:57 +0000

Peter, good questions—I’ll leave them for my more capable colleagues and others who regularly respond on this blog. Let me say thank you to all those involved in making this blog successful. WBTC’S Translation Department has found this blog useful for correcting faults and considering other ways to improve our texts. I can make our texts available in other formats besides the PDFs found on our website for interested persons.

Kurk, good point, which I’ll pass on to our editor. We appreciate all comments, both positive and corrective. Let me add one last comment about Spanish, even though I’m not a native speaker. There is nothing ambiguous, in the context of Mat. 3:11, about quitarse. Our former editor wrote, “Nada ambiguo, no te preocupes”.

By: J. K. Gayle

J. K. Gayle — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 10:56:45 +0000

For example, WBTC’s Vietnamese translation in Mat 3:11 attempts to reflect the customs and culture of our readers. According to our editor, in Vietnam taking off the shoes of someone is not a sign of lowliness, carrying their shoes is. Thanks Brian. Does your editor believe Matthew is unique? The Vietnamese for John the Baptist's verb for Mark, Luke, and John is mở ("to open"); and for Luke it's cởi ("to untie," "to take off"). Peter, There may be much to what you're thinking about Matthew and his presumed Jewish audience. But doesn't Luke's translation of the Jewish Jesus's instructions to his Jewish disciples (“Carry ... no shoes” Lk 10:4a) suggest that it was the normal thing for them to do? Or did carrying one's own sandals mean something different from carrying another's?

By: Peter Kirk

Peter Kirk — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 09:19:33 +0000

Brian, that’s an interesting cultural observation. It makes me wonder if the differences between the gospels on this matter reflect a similar cultural distinction. Could it be that for Matthew’s Jewish audience carrying sandals was lowly, but for the other evangelists’ more Hellenistic audiences the lowly thing was taking them off? I don’t know.

But I do know that for Jews taking off sandals had another quite different significance (Ruth 4:7). Maybe Matthew is deliberately distancing himself from those connotations – he certainly wouldn’t have wanted John’s reluctance to be misinterpreted as a refusal to defer to Jesus as would be symbolised by taking off a sandal.

By: Brian McLemore

Brian McLemore — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 22:52:09 +0000

Kurk,

Though the Easy-to-Read English version serves as a model for our other translations, it is not their master. For example, WBTC’s Vietnamese translation in Mat 3:11 attempts to reflect the customs and culture of our readers. According to our editor, in Vietnam taking off the shoes of someone is not a sign of lowliness, carrying their shoes is.

By: Peter Kirk

Peter Kirk — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 22:42:19 +0000

Thanks, Brian. I’m not sure this revision is an improvement, but it is more consistent with other WBTC translations. The verb indeed means “take off” but also “take away” which implies carrying. But the last part of the Matthew verse can be translated literally “I am unworthy even to be the servant who bows down to take off His sandals”. This addition of “who bows down” leaves no doubt that the translators went for the “take off” option rather than the “carry” one.

By: Brian McLemore

Brian McLemore — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 22:30:03 +0000

Peter,

The current WBTC Russian texts read

Mat. 3:11 Я крещу водой в знак покаяния. Но Тот, Кто придёт после меня, сильнее меня. Я недостоин даже быть рабом, который наклоняется, чтобы снять Его сандалии.

Gen.40:19 не пройдёт и трёх дней, как фараон снимет тебе голову, и повесит твой труп на шесте, и птицы будут клевать его!

The verb in question means “to take off.”

There is a lag time between what’s in print or pdf and the “live” texts. I’ve heard it said about Bible translations that they are never done, you just stop to print!