desert / wilderness

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The Greek, Hebrew and Latin that is translated as “desert” or “wilderness” in English is translated in a number of ways:

  • Mairasi: “a place where noisiness is cut off (or: stops)” (source: Enggavoter 2004)
  • Muna: pandaso bhalano pr “big barren-field” (source: René van den Berg)
  • Balinese: “barren field” (source: J.L. Swellengrebel in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 75ff. )
  • Wantoat: “uninhabited place” (source: Holzhausen 1991, p. 38)
  • Umiray Dumaget Agta: “where no people dwell” (source: Larson 1998, p. 98)
  • Shipibo-Conibo: “where no house is” (source: James Lauriault in The Bible Translator 1951, p. 32ff. )
  • Amri Karbi: “waterless region/place” (source: Philippova 2021, p. 368)
  • Ocotlán Zapotec: “large empty place” (source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)
  • Pa’o Karen: “jungle” (denoting a place without any towns, villages and tilled fields) (source: Gordon Luce in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 153f. )
  • Low German translation by Johannes Jessen, publ. 1933, republ. 2006: “steppe”
  • Yakan: “the lonely place” (source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “a land where no people lived” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “the place with no inhabitants” (source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Matumbi uses various term: lubele (desert, sandy place without water) — used in John 11:54, lupu’ngu’ti (a place where no people live, can be a scrub land, a forest, or a savanna) — used in Mark 1:3 et al.), and mwitu (a forest, a place where wild animals live) — used in Mark 1:13 et al.) (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific notes in Paratext)
  • Chichewa Contemporary translation (2002/2016): chipululu: a place uninhabited by people with thick forest and bush (source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)

Note that in Luke 15:4, usually a term is used that denotes pastoral land, such as “eating/grazing-place” in Tagbanwa (source: Tagbanwa Back Translation).

See also wilderness and desolate wilderness.

wild animal

The Hebrew, Latin and Greek that is translated in English as “wild animal” or similar is translated in Newari as “animal that lives in the jungle.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)

complete verse (Joel 1:20)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Joel 1:20:

  • Kupsabiny: “The animals of the bush also cry to you
    because the rivers are dry
    and the pasture is destroyed.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Wild animals also seek help from you,
    The streams have totally dried up;
    fire has destroyed the pastures of the wilderness.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “Even the animals in the open-fields are-waiting for your (sing.) help, for the rivers and the streams (are) now very dry, and the grazing-areas/fields have-withered as-if devoured by fire.’” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)

addressing God

Translators of different languages have found different ways with what kind of formality God is addressed. The first example is from a language where God is always addressed distinctly formal whereas the second is one where the opposite choice was made.

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Like many languages (but unlike Greek or Hebrew or English), Tuvan uses a formal vs. informal 2nd person pronoun (a familiar vs. a respectful “you”). Unlike other languages that have this feature, however, the translators of the Tuvan Bible have attempted to be very consistent in using the different forms of address in every case a 2nd person pronoun has to be used in the translation of the biblical text.

As Voinov shows in Pronominal Theology in Translating the Gospels (in: The Bible Translator 2002, p. 210ff. ), the choice to use either of the pronouns many times involved theological judgment. While the formal pronoun can signal personal distance or a social/power distance between the speaker and addressee, the informal pronoun can indicate familiarity or social/power equality between speaker and addressee.

In these verses, in which humans address God, the informal, familiar pronoun is used that communicates closeness.

Voinov notes that “in the Tuvan Bible, God is only addressed with the informal pronoun. No exceptions. An interesting thing about this is that I’ve heard new Tuvan believers praying with the formal form to God until they are corrected by other Christians who tell them that God is close to us so we should address him with the informal pronoun. As a result, the informal pronoun is the only one that is used in praying to God among the Tuvan church.”

In Gbaya, “a superior, whether father, uncle, or older brother, mother, aunt, or older sister, president, governor, or chief, is never addressed in the singular unless the speaker intends a deliberate insult. When addressing the superior face to face, the second person plural pronoun ɛ́nɛ́ or ‘you (pl.)’ is used, similar to the French usage of vous.

Accordingly, the translators of the current version of the Gbaya Bible chose to use the plural ɛ́nɛ́ to address God. There are a few exceptions. In Psalms 86:8, 97:9, and 138:1, God is addressed alongside other “gods,” and here the third person pronoun o is used to avoid confusion about who is being addressed. In several New Testament passages (Matthew 21:23, 26:68, 27:40, Mark 11:28, Luke 20:2, 23:37, as well as in Jesus’ interaction with Pilate and Jesus’ interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well) the less courteous form for Jesus is used to indicate ignorance of his position or mocking (source Philip Noss).

In Dutch and Western Frisian translations, however, God is always addressed with the formal pronoun.

See also female second person singular pronoun in Psalms.

Translation commentary on Joel 1:20

Even the wild beasts cry to thee: The wild beasts are the nondomesticated animals that live in forests and on plains. New Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation say “wild animals.” The Hebrew verb translated cry is different from word rendered “cry” in verse 19. The verb here literally refers to the longing that a thirsty person or animal has for water (see Psa 42.1, where a deer longs for streams of water). However, the prophet substitutes to thee as the goal of the longing in place of water itself, signifying that the LORD is the ultimate source of refreshment. It is to God that people and animals must look for supplying their needs (compare Psa 145.15-16). For this whole line New Jerusalem Bible has “Even the wild animals pant loudly for you.” Both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation personify the wild animals as “crying” to God, since the Hebrew figurative language here does not translate easily into English. It seems that in poetry many languages can do the same. If the personification is unnatural or unacceptable in the receptor language, translators can turn it into a simile by rephrasing the line as follows: “Even the wild animals are like people who cry out to you.” However, such a solution tends to result in a loss of poetic impact.

Because the water brooks are dried up: This is why the wild animals cry out to God. Good News Translation translates water brooks as “streams,” which are basically small rivers. Translators may say “rivers” because of the poetic exaggeration in this section.

And fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness: These two lines are repeated almost exactly in Hebrew from lines two and three of verse 19, forming a kind of refrain for emphasis and poetic effect. Such repetition is acceptable in Hebrew but not necessarily in receptor languages. Since it may sound awkward in English here, Good News Translation omits these lines.

Quoted with permission from de Blois, Kees & Dorn, Louis. A Handbook on Joel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2020. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .