There has always been a difficulty which has prevented translators from sleeping for centuries. You are translating into a language used by people who have never seen a sheep, not even once. In that language there is no word for a sheep, no folklore concerning it, and nothing of the sort. The verse you are looking at states, “Behold, the Lamb of God.”
What should one do? Take the foreign word and give an explanation in a footnote? Replace it with a local animal and thus lose the sacrificial system which the image relies upon? Or say “the young animal offered as a sin offering” and thereby lose the element of tenderness? There is no simple solution, and any competent translator will admit that the process of translation can take weeks. This is the actual work involved in Christian translation, which is why publishers and mission agencies generally prefer an experienced online Bible translator with theological training rather than someone who quotes the lowest rate per word.
Word-for-Word Isn’t the Same Thing as Accurate
The majority of people think that being faithful involves sticking closely to the original words. In some cases it does, but often it doesn’t.
The Hebrew word hesed is translated into English as lovingkindness, steadfast love, mercy, or covenant faithfulness, according to the context in which it occurs, since no one English word includes all of its meanings. If the translation is incorrect the sentence still sounds beautiful; it just conveys a slightly different meaning.
The significance of idioms in this case is clear. For someone who wore a long robe and had to tuck it into his belt before running, the expression ‘gird up the loins of your mind’ was very vivid. If you translate it literally into most modern languages the result is confusion. But if you translate it as ‘get ready for action’ you retain the meaning while losing the image.
There has always been a debate between formal equivalence, which aims to remain close to the original structure, and dynamic equivalence, which focuses on the effect on the reader. In reality, no one holds themselves to just one end of the scale. A good translation of Christian texts adjusts its approach along this spectrum from verse to verse, and those that are honest about their work record the reasons for the changes they make.
The safeguards are dull. Use critical editions of the original texts rather than those of a translator. Look at the different versions in the manuscripts. Refer to the lexicons and make a record of every judgment you have to make so that the next reviewer can see the reasons for your decisions rather than having to guess at them.
Theology Matters as Much as Grammar
Even if a translator is skilled in Greek, they may still give a misrepresentation of the faith. Terms such as justification, atonement, propitiation, and covenant have a significant meaning which a general dictionary does not provide. If a person does not know the way these terms have been understood by the church, the sentences they produce will be grammatically correct but will still be misguided.
The distinction lies between Christian translation agencies and those that have a general-purpose approach. With Christian Lingua, the work is assigned to Christian translators who are native speakers of the target language and who are actually members of the church community for whom the material is intended. They understand how a word will sound when it is delivered from a pulpit on a Sunday, even though it may not look the same when printed.
The process is also important. Generally, serious Christian translation services operate in a manner similar to the following:
- A qualified native speaker translates
- A second linguist reviews it without having seen the first draft
- Someone checks the theology against the source text
- Real readers or listeners from the target audience test it
- A final pass makes sure key terms stayed consistent throughout
People fail to realise the importance of that final stage. Once ‘grace’ is shown in three different ways throughout a 300-page book, readers have lost the argument by about the fourth chapter and will not be able to explain why.
When the Words Have to Be Spoken, Sung, or Signed
The Ministry has long since stopped offering its content in print form, and each of the other formats alters the text to suit itself.
The Christian voice-over and the Christian overdub are used to introduce the clock. When translating a line, it is necessary for it to match the speaker’s mouth movements or to fit within the musical background, and the easy solution in such cases is to cut a clause. Instead, good adaptation writers choose to rewrite the line. Here, tone is just as important as the content itself; if a lament is delivered in a bright tone it constitutes a mistranslation regardless of how accurately the words are rendered.
The translation of American Sign Language is altogether a different matter. American Sign Language has its own grammar and makes use of space in a way that English simply doesn’t. It’s not English being signed with the hands. An experienced ASL video interpreter works with concepts and spatial relationships, which is the reason why Deaf congregations need proper ASL video interpreter services and not auto-generated captions.
There’s also podcast translation and radio translation services, the attraction of which is that a person is heard to be talking normally. Christian radio broadcasters make jokes, refer to news from last week, and often cut off in the middle of a thought. If you remove these features, you may have technically carried out the translation but have at the same time destroyed the reason why anyone would have listened. Pastors encounter the same problem whenever they translate materials for use in training or curricula abroad.
What to Ask Before You Hire Anyone
If you are a publisher, an author, or a nonprofit leader who is about to hire someone to carry out a project, you should ask a number of questions of the providers. Specifically, are the translators native speakers of the target language? Do they share the same faith as the one being translated? Is there actually a second-language review, or is the file simply returned by one person? Will consistency be maintained with regard to terminology if the project includes a book, an audiobook, and a video series? And is it possible for a single team to handle all of those different formats so that your message doesn’t change as it passes from one to another?
To preserve the original meaning of the Scripture it is necessary to have linguistic accuracy, a good knowledge of theology, cultural awareness, and a good deal of patience. That has been the standard followed by the Church since Jerome and Tyndale, and it should be the standard that your ministry aims to maintain.
Christian Lingua is a translation company based on that belief and provides services to authors, publishers, churches, and non-profit organisations through the use of qualified Christian translators. Should you have a book, a series of sermons, a podcast, a curriculum or a video project that is waiting to reach a wider audience, then go to Christian Lingua to get a quote and work with people who will handle your message with the same care that you have shown it.