Translation commentary on Sirach 22:10

Children who are disdainfully and boorishly haughty stain the nobility of their kindred: Someone who is disdainfully and boorishly haughty not only thinks too highly of himself, but shows a low regard for others, and shows it in a rude manner. To stain the nobility of one’s kindred means to bring the good reputation of one’s family into disrepute. This verse states the opposite thought of the previous verse. “Children who are not brought up well” (Good News Translation) will be an embarrassment to a family of high social class. The relative clause “who are not brought up well” does not occur in this verse, but Good News Translation adds it to establish the link between this verse and the previous one. This may seem repetitive in some languages. If this is true, Contemporary English Version‘s model for this verse is a good one:

• But rude and arrogant children
are a disgrace
to a good family.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Sirach. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.

Translation commentary on Sirach 22:10 (a)

He who tells a story to a fool tells it to a drowsy man: The Greek verb form translated tells a story and tells it is a form of the noun translated “tale” in verse 6, and seems to have the same meaning here, which is “teach, lecture, talk sense” (see the comments on verse 6). Good News Translation does well with “Explaining something … explaining it….” An alternative model for this line is “You might as well explain something to someone sound asleep” (similarly New Jerusalem Bible).

And at the end he will say, “What is it?”: At the end means “when you have finished” (Good News Translation). To translate What is it?, the translator needs to imagine the situation: you are talking to someone who is just barely awake, trying to explain something, and when you’ve finished he looks at you sleepily and says or asks something that lets you know he has not understood anything you’ve said. In your language what would the sleepy person say? It must not sound formal. Good News Translation “What was that again?” and Contemporary English Version “So what’s your point?” work well for English, but may not be good models for other languages. “Say that again” or “What did you say?” may serve better in many languages.

Note that the footnotes here in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation have been discussed already as footnotes at the end of verse 6. See the comments there.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Sirach. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.