sell

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “sell” in English is translated in Noongar as wort-bangal or “away-barter.” Note that “buy” is translated as bangal-barranga or “get-barter.” (Source: Bardip Ruth-Ang 2020)

See also buy and buying / selling.

complete verse (Leviticus 25:23)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Leviticus 25:23:

  • Kupsabiny: “A field must not be sold for good because the soil is mine. You (plur.) are foreigners or visitors who are together with me in that field.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Do not sell any part of your land permanently [lit.: for all time]. For the land is mine. It has only been given to you to cultivate [lit.: to work] ” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “[You (plur.)] do- not -sell your (plur.) land (in a way) that you (plur.) can- no-longer -buy-(it)-back/redeem-(it), for this land (is) mine; I am- only -having- you (plur.) -live-in and having- you (plur.) -farm this (land).” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “‘You must not sell any of your land to belong to someone else permanently, because the land is not yours, it; is really mine, and you are only living on it temporarily and farming/taking care of it for me.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

1st person pronoun referring to God (Japanese)

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 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.

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also pronoun for “God”.

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)

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).

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )