The Challenge of Translation

This is the introduction to a collection of studies by group of liturgists reflecting on the problems linguistic, theological, and practical that derive from the 2011 translation, These studies are in Liturgical Language and Translation: The Issues Arising from the Revised English Translation of the Roman Missal [Joint Liturgical Studies 77] (Hymns Ancient and Modern, Norwich 2014). A review of this collection can be found in the review section of this site, entitled 'Pseudo-Cranmerian Gobbledeguck'

Liturgiam Authenticam, the instruction on the use of vernacular languages in the publication of the books of the Roman liturgy, claims to be faithful to the intentions of the liturgical reform of Vatican II, especially to the intention of Sacrosanctum Concilium 36. From the time of the publication of Liturgiam Authenticam, the debates on the liturgical translation have become tangled in the argument of authority or procedural collaboration between Rome and the Bishops' Conference. The publication of the Apostolic Letter Magnum Principium in 2017 has solved this legal problem. This paper argues that the problem of implementing faithfully the intentions of the liturgical reform of the Vatican II regarding the use of vernacular in the liturgy cannot be simplified by implementing only the correct idea of collaboration between the authorities involved in the work of translation. Further, implementation of the correct understanding of the function of language in the work of liturgical translation is a serious challenge. For this reason, there are some important points to consider regarding Liturgiam Authenticam after the publication of Magnum Principium.

New Theology Review, 2010

TransCon 2013 The Multifaceted World of Translation, 2013

The Holy Bible has been known as one of the most-translated ancient texts in the world. In English alone we can find a number of translation versions of The Holy Bible to assist modern readers in understanding the message easily. The challenge to keep the original message pure and yet relevant for modern-time readers has been the toughest conquest for The Holy Bible translators. The New Living Translation, one of the latest versions, has set clarity as their primary goal. This paper aims at studying the methods used by the The Bible Translation Committee in their attempt to make their translation relevant for modern English readers. Particular attention is paid on how the translators overcame the translation issues commonly faced by translators of The Holy Bible. It is concluded that this translation product has been quite successful in making the message in The Holy Bible relevant for modern-time English readers. Key words: Clarity in translation, dynamic equivalence, a relevant translation, modern English readers.

Upon full approval from the Vatican, the Catholic Church will soon be releasing the new Roman Missal. This paper comments upon the ramifications of perhaps the most drastic changes in the Missal in which the term "pro multis" used during the Institution Narrative is rendered as "for the many" whereas in the past the words had been translated to mean "for all."

2002

We cannot do anything about the proliferation of English Bible translations. They will keep coming. This is something to lament, not to celebrate. People are not more biblically literate as more and more English translations are available. On the contrary, they know less and less about the content of the Bible (p. 196). This quotation serves to highlight the issue which Leland Ryken, Professor of English at Wheaton College, Illinois, is addressing in this book. A ware of the fact that the last two decades have seen a profusion of new translations of the Bible in English, Ryken' s concern is to examine the principles which underlie the task of Bible translation. Reading his book, one is aware both of a burden and of a passion: a burden for the Word of God, which, he contends, some modem versions have failed to communicate fully, and a passion to highlight those principles which will secure excellence in Bible translation. But this is no mere academic discussion of the merits of essential literalism over dynamic equivalence. It is a devastating critique of all translations which have applied the dynamic equivalence theory, on the basis that it is enough to communicate the thought of a passage. Translations like the NIV, the New Living Translation and The Message, are all flawed at this point, according to Ryken. By not paying attention to the individual words of the original text, they are guilty of obscuring much of the original world of the text as well as its literary qualities. In fact, Ryken's work is the exposition of a simple principle: that any translation has to respect the words of the original speaker. When these words are the words of God, the importance of the task is magnified. Many modem translations, according to Ryken, have adopted fallacious pre-judgements: such as that the Bible is uniformly simple, or that it is essentially modern, or that the uliimate goal of translation is readability, or that we should translate as if the Bible writers were living today, or

This short report lays out the aims, approach, program, and results of the international conference "The Wrong Direction. Early Modern Translations into Latin" that took place in Tübingen from April 13 to 15 in 2023.

Journal for the Study of Judaism 41 (2010) 366-369

Brill's Encyclopedia of the Neo-Latin World. Macropaedia, 2014

The importance of translation across centuries and throughout the world cannot be over emphasised, a fact of which Neo-Latin authors and translators were well aware. Not surprisingly, their contribution to the understanding and practice of translation is significant. It takes four forms, which are discussed in this article: theoretical treatises on translation; copious commentary in letters and paratextual materials accompanying editions and translations; educational tracts promoting Latin; a corpus of translations into and out of Latin.

2013