Thread: How to translate Biblical references?

Hi,

I am trying to translate several parts taken from the Bible, from English to Spanish and French, and I am sure these have already been translated and approved. Do you know where I could find these translated bits?
Thanks for helping out!

A colleague just recommended me this link:
https://www.biblegateway.com/
After checking it out, it's pretty amazing!
You type in what you're looking for, choose a language (french, english, spanish, hebrew, maori, urdu, etc etc...!!!!), choose the translation version, and ther you go! You can also scroll down the "bible Book list" if you're not sure about what you're looking for. Amzing right!?!?!

What do you think? Are there verses that this website is missing out?

It looks very complete. It has many Spanish versions and Chinese, which reminds me that you may want to check if Jost Zetzsche has something to say: Publications for Jost Zetzsche

Good one danielr, in case you need the Bible in chinese!

A complicated subject, it seems haha. It's a book that has not been properly translated since the very beginning. Muslims avoided that problem when they decided that the Quran should stay in Arabic.

But there are translations of the Quran in french, english, and other languages....Do these translations have the same problem as the Bible?
Also, how do you know if any of these translations is "proper" or "official"?

Yes, the Quran was recently translated, but it stayed in Arabic for centuries.
The authorities approve a translation and that is how you can use it.

I just remembered the interesting project 84000 to translate Tibetan texts and make them available to new cultures and generations.

Originally Posted by danielr

A complicated subject, it seems haha. It's a book that has not been properly translated since the very beginning. Muslims avoided that problem when they decided that the Quran should stay in Arabic.

Complicated indeed. I guess there are correct translations in the sense that they're official, but the official translation is itself deeply flawed and it's but a translation of a translation.

This all leads to the very essence of translation and what a translator is supposed to translate. But the translations going around today come from the vulgata, the latin version of the Bible, which was itself a translation of the original texts written at the very beginning of the middle ages. Saint Jerome (the patron saint of all translators) is said to be the author of the vulgata, but his translation, however noble the enterprise, had flaws inherent to the methods of his day. It's all a chain of events that led to a translation that is, at times, a little off, and sometimes completely misses the point. This mistranslation also led to some pretty horrific mistakes from people confusing the word of God from the word of man. But I may be meandering a bit here...