Wednesday 24 September 2014

Translation principles

Here is a radical insight, not dissimilar to the principles that have informed my own work in translation. More developed and disciplined - as must be from one who has had more formal opportunity - but I think not without convergence from another outsider.
  1. Take the biblical text seriously in all its plurality. Her listening to the marginalized voices respects the context of the canon.
  2. 'Attending to the orality of the text means not sacrificing form for function or meaning.' (My emphasis).
  3. Concordance. (Her words are too 'big' - too many syllables - to copy for this point). Her example(s) are really fun. 'God revealed Godself as male and female in the first two verses of Genesis.'
  4. 'Translate for all ... from each perspective present (or hidden) in the text.'
There are several more principles but since I am not a black woman, they don't apply to me in quite the same way - but I hear them as any 'other' should. The whole article is worth reading. Thanks to Kurk Gayle for the pointer.


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