rosends
Well-Known Member
During many online discussions one roadblock which reappears is that of translation. Someone tries to present an understanding of text and I point out that the understanding relies on inferences drawn from a translation. "So?" I get asked, "Are you saying that no one can understand the text without studying it in the Hebrew?" When I say "Well, sort of...yeah" I get attacked.
For years, I tried to point out that translation is interpretation. As a teacher, I explain this to my students when we study Voltaire or Ibsen in English. I show them Hamlet in Hebrew. Then I can show them things like the KJV and its selective use of particular English words for certain instances of the Hebrew, and different English words at other times.
I have even found a reference on line to a rhetorical term for this problem (though the wiki page no longer exists -- this is the archived version of Translation Fallacy as referenced here) . The Fallacy of Translation is discussed here and here and mentioned here and even in item 10 here.
But this past week I read an interesting article about words found in Parshat Mikeitz and it included reference to the Italian phrase Traduttore traditore, Translator, traitor. An interesting discussion of the problem can be found here and another here.
So I just figured I would present some resources to help people understand the pitfalls of translations (and if nothing else, this becomes an online repository for those websites so I can find them quickly the next time I get pulled into this line of discussion.
For years, I tried to point out that translation is interpretation. As a teacher, I explain this to my students when we study Voltaire or Ibsen in English. I show them Hamlet in Hebrew. Then I can show them things like the KJV and its selective use of particular English words for certain instances of the Hebrew, and different English words at other times.
I have even found a reference on line to a rhetorical term for this problem (though the wiki page no longer exists -- this is the archived version of Translation Fallacy as referenced here) . The Fallacy of Translation is discussed here and here and mentioned here and even in item 10 here.
But this past week I read an interesting article about words found in Parshat Mikeitz and it included reference to the Italian phrase Traduttore traditore, Translator, traitor. An interesting discussion of the problem can be found here and another here.
So I just figured I would present some resources to help people understand the pitfalls of translations (and if nothing else, this becomes an online repository for those websites so I can find them quickly the next time I get pulled into this line of discussion.
