English Bible translation is in the same state as politics is. A select few make the decisions and the rest of us get what we can. Those of us who are concerned generaly can't agree on how to fix the problems. The debates usualy center on whether a translation should be "literal" or paraphrased, but neither of these styles solves the problem. "literal" translations generaly are dificult to read, and sound very eggheadish (if you didn't know it, the books of the Bible, were mostly writen by poets, and probably did not sound like thesis papers until english came along), while paraphrases replace the original text with english idioms and cultural ideas non-existant in the original. English translations bury the original text under the english language in order to help us understands it, but this anglicizing only makes the text more obscure.
I like what one translator called a "transparent" style – neither "literal," nor paraphrased, so, I'm proposing a solution to the problem: translated the bible literaly, actualy make it literal, or rather transparent to the text. This will actualy make it easier to understand, not harder.
As an example, I will for the next post include my first very rough draft of Ecclesiastes. I am not a Bible scholar, nor do I know Greek or Hebrew. I simply used an interlinear Bible and a Strong's Dictionary, and compared several english translations. What this may lack in accuracy it will more than make up for in poetry, and transparency. Please let me know what you think about it, (especialy if you are a Bible scholar).
Copyright © 2011 David S. Robinson. Any part of this work may be transmitted, reprinted, or otherwise used in any form, so long as 1) I am clearly identified as the author, and 2) a link or URL to this site is included.
I like what one translator called a "transparent" style – neither "literal," nor paraphrased, so, I'm proposing a solution to the problem: translated the bible literaly, actualy make it literal, or rather transparent to the text. This will actualy make it easier to understand, not harder.
As an example, I will for the next post include my first very rough draft of Ecclesiastes. I am not a Bible scholar, nor do I know Greek or Hebrew. I simply used an interlinear Bible and a Strong's Dictionary, and compared several english translations. What this may lack in accuracy it will more than make up for in poetry, and transparency. Please let me know what you think about it, (especialy if you are a Bible scholar).
Copyright © 2011 David S. Robinson. Any part of this work may be transmitted, reprinted, or otherwise used in any form, so long as 1) I am clearly identified as the author, and 2) a link or URL to this site is included.
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