“The low social status of these men is indicated by the fact that they are wearing only one piece of cloth, all that they own. They are men of different ages working out in the fields raising animals. No one usually visits them.”
Hand colored stencil print on washi by Sadao Watanabe (1979)
Image taken with permission from the SadaoHanga Catalogue where you can find many more images and information about Sadao Watanabe. For other images of Sadao Watanabe artworks in TIPs, see here.
Following is a painting by Chen Yuandu 陳緣督 (1902-1967):
Housed in the Société des Auxiliaires des Missions Collection – Whitworth University.
Image taken from Chinese Christian Posters . For more information on the “Ars Sacra Pekinensis” school of art, see this article , for other artworks of that school in TIPs, see here.
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 Translator2002, 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.
Here, angels address people with the formal pronoun, expressing respect.
In most Dutch as well as in Western Frisian and Afrikaans translations, the angels are addressing people with the informal pronoun.
The Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that is typically translated in English as “joy” or “happiness” is translated in the HausaCommon Language Bible idiomatically as farin ciki or “white stomach.” In some cases, such as in Genesis 29:11, it is also added for emphatic purposes.
Other languages that use the same expression include Southern Birifor (pʋpɛl), Dera (popolok awo), Reshe (ɾipo ɾipuhã). (Source: Andy Warren-Rothlin)
The Greek that is translated as “to fear” or “to be afraid” or similar in English is translated in Ashe as agõõi iwei or “hearing fear.” (Source: David Rowbory)
Apali: “God’s one with talk from the head” (“basically God’s messenger since head refers to any leader’s talk”) (source: Martha Wade)
Michoacán Nahuatl: “clean helper of God” (source: B. Moore / G. Turner in Notes on Translation 1967, p. 1ff.)
Noongar: Hdjin-djin-kwabba or “spirit good” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Wè Northern (Wɛɛ): Kea ‘a “sooa or “the Lord’s soldier” (also: “God’s soldier” or “his soldier”) (source: Drew Maust)
Iwaidja: “a man sent with a message” (Sam Freney explains the genesis of this term [in this article ): “For example, in Darwin last year, as we were working on a new translation of Luke 2:6–12 in Iwaidja, a Northern Territory language, the translators had written ‘angel’ as ‘a man with eagle wings’. Even before getting to the question of whether this was an accurate term (or one that imported some other information in), the word for ‘eagle’ started getting discussed. One of the translators had her teenage granddaughter with her, and this word didn’t mean anything to her at all. She’d never heard of it, as it was an archaic term that younger people didn’t use anymore. They ended up changing the translation of ‘angel’ to something like ‘a man sent with a message’, which is both more accurate and clear.”)
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 to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. When the referent is God, the “divine” honorific prefix mi- (御 or み) is used as in mi-tsukai (御使い) or “messenger (of God).” (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
Following are a number of back-translations of Luke 2:10:
Noongar: “But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid! I come here, bringing good news to you. This news will bring much happiness to all people.” (Source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uma: “That angel said to them: ‘Do not be afraid, because my coming here is to bring good news to you, news that makes all people very glad.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “But the angel said, ‘Don’t be afraid, because I have come to tell you good news which will make all the people glad.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And that angel of the Lord said, he said ‘Don’t you be afraid because I was sent here so that I might tell you some very good news which will be the reason for rejoicing for all mankind.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Whereupon the angel said to them, ‘Don’t be afraid! Because what I will report to you will be the cause-of-happiness of all people.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “But the angel said to them, ‘Don’t be afraid. There is good news which I bring which I will tell you, which will give big happiness to all people.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
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