Bad Translations

[somewhereinbetween]

A friend showed me this website, which translates things over and over in 56 different languages and then back to English. Is it terrible that the first thing I thought of was FJ and bible translations? Of course I had to type in part of Proverbs 31, and after about a dozen translations the part I chose stopped making logical sense. Interestingly, along the way several translations skewed the interpretation in way that put down both genders.

 

"An excellent wife, who can find? For her worth is far above rubies. The heart of her husband trusts in her, And he will have no lack of gain. "

 

became

 

"For a good woman can not find it? The price is more pronounced than stone. I believe in her husband's heart, the lack of merit."

 

and

 

"If a woman can not find it? The cost is more than a stone. I think that the lack of submission in the heart of his wife."

 

I realize this website is intended to show how the internet is a poor translator. However, it really made me wonder how fundies can cling to the KJV with such tenacity, as I'm sure at least 50 translations were involved between the initial writings of biblical texts and King James' commission of the bible...

http://www.ackuna.com/badtranslator

[xDreamerx]

I don't think the KJV is a bad translation. There are no bad translations. It's just that one has to understand each translation in context and fundies fail to do that. I would say that it was actually Tyndale's Bible that informed a lot of the KJV translation and a lot of Tyndale's style has become really entrenched in our language, much in the same way that Shakespeare has. The linguist and scholar in me can't just dismiss entire translations and points in history but I wish religious people would make more of an effort to understand the forces that influence translations, but that might imply that their faith is intertwined with the history of men. *mock gasp*

[somewhereinbetween]

I didn't mean to imply that KJV was a bad translation, the name of the website is Bad Translations. I do think that if any other one translation was held up as the fundie standard, that one would be taken out of context to suit pre-determined beliefs as well.

[xDreamerx]

I didn't mean to imply that KJV was a bad translation, the name of the website is Bad Translations. I do think that if any other one translation was held up as the fundie standard, that one would be taken out of context to suit pre-determined beliefs as well.

My bad, I was meaning to direct that at you personally. I knew what you meant. I was just trying to say that the whole good vs bad translation arguement is relative :).