The Hebrew and Greek that is transliterated as “Ephraim” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with the sign for “palm tree” referring to the palm of Deborah in the land of Ephraim (see Judges 4:5. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Jeremiah 7:15:
Kupsabiny: “I shall chase you far away like I chased away your relatives of the house of Ephraim.’” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “I will-cause- you (plur.) -to-leave from your (plur.) place away my presence like I did to your (plur.) relatives, the people of Israel.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “And I will expel you from this land and send you to other countries far away from me, just like I did to your relatives, the people of Israel.’” (Source: Translation for Translators)
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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).
Cast out has been variously rendered as “throw out” or “drive out” (Good News Translation). Translators can say, for example, “I will drive you out of my presence [or, where I can’t see you].”
All your kinsmen, all the offspring of Ephraim is a reference to the people of the northern kingdom who were carried away into exile in 722 B.C. Good News Translation follows the procedure of replacing the more difficult expression the offspring of Ephraim with “the people of Israel.” New Living Translation has “your relatives, the people of Israel.” Most translations will be similar to this.
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Jeremiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2003. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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