Translation prinicples exist when going from one language to another. Thus, when translating Caesar's Gallic wars, for instance, a person has to know at least the vocabulary of Latin, but much more enters in. Most language students today recognize that a language is more easily learned when knowledge of the culture is also learned. Knowing what triggers a phrase helps in remembering when to generate the phrase.
I was sitting in a class today, when the teacher took a direction that would have better been served if some language preparation had been done prior to the direction. The particular direction depended solely on the translation from another language in literal terms. The outcome would have been quite different if the language had been taken in figurative terms. This is where language principles come in. Native speakers know when something can be taken literally or not. Native speakers understand, for example, parody, irony, sarcasm, and other satirical features of speech. Of course, the teacher was not a native speaker of the original language, so he couldn't know what a native might have thought. But, since he was using a translation for his discussion, I don't know why it didn't occur to him to find out if someone else might have known what the native people could have thought? Why do people park their brains when discussing Biblical literature?
As you can tell it's a pet peeve of mine. People are too trusting of a conservative institution producing conservative translators. By conservative I mean that the translators don't fully employ the principles of translation. One more fully understands the Gallic Wars, for instance, when one also understands Latin, the Roman war culture, Roman values in general, Roman views about enemies such as triumphal procession, etc. But these priniciples are many times set aside when reading for a particular view in the passages of English translated Bibles. If students learning a language know the value of culture and pragmatics when learning a language, then those who propose to teach a translated document might do well to consider the same.
Ah-h-h! It's been a peeve of mine since I was 19 learning language in a university that teachers of religious documents have special rules for themselves, a narrower set. 3 1/2 decades later, nothing's changed. Que lastima! Me genoito!
I was sitting in a class today, when the teacher took a direction that would have better been served if some language preparation had been done prior to the direction. The particular direction depended solely on the translation from another language in literal terms. The outcome would have been quite different if the language had been taken in figurative terms. This is where language principles come in. Native speakers know when something can be taken literally or not. Native speakers understand, for example, parody, irony, sarcasm, and other satirical features of speech. Of course, the teacher was not a native speaker of the original language, so he couldn't know what a native might have thought. But, since he was using a translation for his discussion, I don't know why it didn't occur to him to find out if someone else might have known what the native people could have thought? Why do people park their brains when discussing Biblical literature?
As you can tell it's a pet peeve of mine. People are too trusting of a conservative institution producing conservative translators. By conservative I mean that the translators don't fully employ the principles of translation. One more fully understands the Gallic Wars, for instance, when one also understands Latin, the Roman war culture, Roman values in general, Roman views about enemies such as triumphal procession, etc. But these priniciples are many times set aside when reading for a particular view in the passages of English translated Bibles. If students learning a language know the value of culture and pragmatics when learning a language, then those who propose to teach a translated document might do well to consider the same.
Ah-h-h! It's been a peeve of mine since I was 19 learning language in a university that teachers of religious documents have special rules for themselves, a narrower set. 3 1/2 decades later, nothing's changed. Que lastima! Me genoito!
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