Following are a number of back-translations of John 8:27:
Uma: “What Yesus said was speaking-about his Father, but they did not understand its meaning.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “But they did not understand that Isa said that about God, his Father.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “The Jews did not understand that the one who sent him whom he was talking about was his Father God.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “But they didn’t understand that it was his Father who was God that he was speaking-about.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Those people didn’t understand that the one referred to by Jesus was his Father.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “But those people did not understand that he was speaking about his Father.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
The Greek that is translated with the capitalized “Father” in English when referring to God is translated in Highland Totonac with the regular word for (biological) father to which a suffix is added to indicate respect. The same also is used for “Lord” when referring to Jesus. (Source: Hermann Aschmann in The Bible Translator 1950, p. 171ff. )
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. In the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017, God the Father is addressed with mi-chichi (御父). This form has the “divine” honorific prefix mi– preceding the archaic honorific form chichi for “father.”
If, however, Jesus addresses his Father, he is using chichi-o (父を) which is also highly respectful but does not have the “divine” honorific. (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
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 usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme rare (られ) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, katatteo-rare-ru (語っておられる) or “speaking” is used.
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
Once again the Jews misunderstand Jesus’ words: They did not understand that Jesus was talking to them about the Father. In many languages one must say “he was speaking to them about his Father.” However, it may be necessary to say “his Father in heaven,” in order to avoid the implication that in some way or other Jesus was talking about his reputed father, Joseph. The use of the definite article before “Father” in the Greek text indicates clearly that the reference is to the heavenly Father.
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.