Worldview Complicates Translation

Worldview Complicates Translation [Excerpts]

It’s not just language, but worldview, that can complicate Bible translation.

[Missionaries] Gordie and Nancy Hunt recently shared some of the difficulties they’ve encountered as they worked through 2 Corinthians before beginning to translate the book for the Manjui people of Paraguay.

In 2 Corinthians:1:3-6 [3] Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; [4] Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. [5] For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. [6] And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.
See All..., Paul refers to God comforting us and us comforting others because of what God does for us. “In the Manjui worldview before becoming believers, their idea was, I am the center of my world,” the Hunts wrote. “Why would I want to help anyone else to be happy, to feel good, when it’s all about me? The idea of caring for and of helping another brother is foreign.”

In 2 Corinthians:2:14-16 [14] Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. [15] For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: [16] To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?
See All..., Paul calls the message of the Gospel a “fragrance,” a sweet smell that spreads throughout the world. He then calls the believers an “aroma.” That’s going to tough to convey clearly to the Manjuis, the couple wrote.

In 2 Corinthians:3:2-3 [2] Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: [3] Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.
See All..., Paul refers to the Corinthian believers as a “letter of recommendation.” Understanding that is not difficult for a Westerner. “But what about a people who recently come out from living in the jungle and still hunt for deer and pig, and had never even seen paper until we came along,” wrote Gordie and Nancy. “This one is going to take a bit of explaining."

Paul also says in verse 3 that this letter was written in their hearts. “Again, we have a difficulty here because the Manjuis only see their heart as a blood pump,” the Hunts wrote. They’ll understand if the translation uses their term for “insides,” since that’s where the Manjuis feel emotions reside. But saying something was written there “is going to take quite a bit of explanation. I can’t wait to sit down with my translation helper on this one.”

http://usa.ntm.org/field-news/worldview-complicates-translation