History of Translations

History of Translations

Overview Page of History of Translation

30 Chapters（0/30)

Hist_Trans_EN_1 Hist_Trans_EN_2 Hist_Trans_EN_3 Hist_Trans_EN_4 Hist_Trans_EN_5 Hist_Trans_EN_6 Hist_Trans_EN_7 Hist_Trans_EN_8 Hist_Trans_EN_9 Hist_Trans_EN_10 Hist_Trans_EN_11 Hist_Trans_EN_12 Hist_Trans_EN_13 Hist_Trans_EN_14 Hist_Trans_EN_15 Hist_Trans_EN_16 Hist_Trans_EN_17 Hist_Trans_EN_18 Hist_Trans_EN_19 Hist_Trans_EN_20 Hist_Trans_EN_21 Hist_Trans_EN_22 Hist_Trans_EN_23 Hist_Trans_EN_24 Hist_Trans_EN_25 Hist_Trans_EN_26 Hist_Trans_EN_27 Hist_Trans_EN_28 Hist_Trans_EN_29 Hist_Trans_EN_30 ...

Back to translation project overview Zur To-Do-Liste

周俊辉 Chinese translation history in late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China

=abtract=
=keywords=

Mahzad Heydarian: Where Persian Language Meets Translation

This paper is a journey to the history of Persian language and the presence of translation into/from Persian in different historical eras. Translation has been influenced by many social and intercultural factors throughout history; in this paper, its functions from ancient Persia to the contemporary era will be surveyed.

Key Words: Translation history, Persian language, Arabic influence, Medieval era

Persian Language, known as the language of great literary works by Hafez, Khayyam, Rumi and many other classical and modern poets and writers, has always been an interesting subject to study. Looking for its roots and origins and how it is changing and developing has been the interest of many linguists around the world. Like other important languages, Persian has developed and gradually changed in different eras in history. It seems that writings on translation history suffer from severe shortcomings. What is overlooked by the researchers of Persian translation history is to clarify the distinction between oral and written translation. These two have proved to be completely different subjects while they have been mixed when the writers judge its ups and downs in a specific period of time. Moreover, in the relatively limited knowledge of Persian translation history, the thematic classification of translations (e.g. literary, scientific, etc.) have not been considered.

Jawad Ahmad：

Abstract

Humans live in a diverse environment, and communication is at the centre of human community, with language serving as the means of communication. In a society characterized by globalization and global connectivity, there is a strong desire for individuals of many cultures and languages to understand one another. Translation fulfills this need in the scarcity of a shared global language for everybody. When it comes to communicating ideas and knowledge between languages, translation is essential. This study seeks to provide a broad historical overview of translation studies and common techniques in the west from ancient times to the present, in the form of a temporal survey that includes significant theoretical advancements, with an emphasis on approaches established during the modern period.

Keywords

Translation, History, Theories, Approaches

Introduction

To convert or turn from one set of patterns to someone else is to transfer or turn by one set of symbols to another; is translation. But what is the history of translation? Despite the fact that researchers and scholars have long contested the history of translation, it is unanimously acknowledged that translation predates the Bible. Translation has been evolving since the dawn of human contact, and it is now more than ever permitting cross-cultural connections, trade, economic globalization, and knowledge sharing through time. The globe has become more of a melting pot because to translation. As a result, translation becomes a more important function, covering many philosophies, mediums, and cultures. The method of transforming the language that is recorded being spoken in another language is known as translation. In a broad sense, translation can be described as a word, phrase, or sentence in another language that has the same meaning as the original. Translation is one of the many branches of learning, and it has evolved into a significant field that comprises a distinct body of knowledge that is widely used in a variety of human activities. To be continued....................

Benjamin Wellsand：

Title: Bible Translation in the History of Christianity

==Abstract== The history of Christianity is rich in translations. Why is this the case? What is the motivation behind all of this translation effort? The present work will explain the rationale behind the perceived need for translation. It will also deal with key moments within biblical translation history and what impact it had on the church.

Introduction

Translation of the biblical text has been a practice of the Christian church since its very origin. The founding of the church during the Jewish festival of Pentecost, as recorded in the Bible itself, involved Jesus’ disciples communicating the gospel message in the language of Parthians, Medes, Mesopotamians, and Egyptians, among others (cf. Acts 2.7-11). The final vision of the multitude of the saved in heaven are described as a “people of God from every tribe and language and people and nation (Rev. 5.9).” The New Testament, although authored by primarily Hebrew-speaking Jews, was first written in the lingua franca, koine Greek, of the day[1]. Whereas Buddhists and Muslims identify the sacred texts and faiths inseparably from the original languages of Sanskrit or Pali and Arabic, the Christian faith has sought to translate the biblical texts immediately and directly into the vernacular language of the people to accelerate its global spread.

On a historical basis, the Christian faith has been criticized in regard to colonialism and the destruction of cultures. One such case occurred in the sixteenth-century with the Japanese. Giant ships (in comparison to the Japanese) came to dock on the island from Portugal. Many transactions were made between the Portugese traders and the local Japanese damaiyo. When trade agreements went south, as it did in the case of Portugal and Japan, the Portugese missionaries were associated with the politics and ousted from the country. They were ousted under the accusations of encouraging the eating of horses and cows, misleading people through science and medicine, and trading Japanese slaves (l. 1064).” Although the missionaries had done no such things, they were targeted with the accusations along with the Portuguese government.

There are cases where the colonial form of the church has not come to intentionally destroy but has assumed cultural superiority and inadvertently added to the host culture their own country of origin’s cultural forms. Late 19th century missionaries to Africa felt that the Western-style structure of a dwelling was an indicator of modern progress. In 1879, the magistrate of Gatberg declared: It is not only that the requirement of modesty necessitates the providing of some sort of clothing, however simple; but Christian morality desires also a dwelling corresponding to human dignity, decency, and purity. Building plays an important part in the mission. First the missionary builds a simple small house for himself, to which he soon adds a school and a church. Generally, he must himself superintend this work; often enough, indeed, he must execute it with his own hand, and it stands him in good stead to have been a tradesman at home. But he induces the natives also to help him, and much patience as it requires on his part, he undertakes to instruct them. Gradually his word and his example produce their effect, and the converts from heathenism begin to build new and more decent dwellings for themselves (p80).

There is no denying that the church has struggled to decontextualize the faith from their home culture and properly contextualize it into the host culture. This has led to the host culture’s Christianity looking eerily similar to the missionary’s, at best, or a faith that forever remains foreign to the host culture, at worst. Yet, as Lamin Sanneh notes, Christian missionaries have often played a key role in the preservation of cultures: The translation enterprise had two major steps. One was the creation of a vernacular alphabet for societies that lacked a literary tradition. The other step was to shake the existing literary tradition free of its esoteric, elitist predilection by recasting it as a popular medium. Both steps stimulated an indigenous response and encouraged the discovery of local resources for the appropriation of Christianity (1987:333). The translation of the biblical text into another language is not simply a greater convenience to the reader in the target culture but accomplishes far more as language extends much deeper than a mere form of communication.

Benjamin L. Whorf’s theory of linguistic relativity holds that language influences thought and not thought that influences language. For him, “linguistics is essentially the quest of meaning (p73).” George C. Lichtenberg, another pioneer of linguistics, is famously quoted as saying, “Our false philosophy is incorporated in our whole language; we cannot talk, so to say, without talking incorrectly. We do not consider that speaking, irrespective of its content, presents a philosophy (Loewenberg, p102).” Richard D. Lewis illustrated this point with an interaction between himself, an Englishman, and a former Zulu chief who received a doctorate in philology at Oxford as they discussed the color green. As the Zulu pointed to a leaf in the sun, a leaf in the shade, a wet leaf in the sun and one in the shade, bush leaves, leaves in the wind, rivers, pools, tree trunks, and crocodiles, all to which Lewis responded with a single answer: green. Yet his Zulu friend had reached thirty-nine different terms for green with no trouble at all (2006:9). Paul G. Hiebert writes, “We examine the language to discover the categories the people use in their thinking (p.90).”

Christians, like Hiebert, recognize that true conversion of a person’s mind can only happen if it takes place on three levels of the individual: belief, behavior, and worldview. “Too often conversion takes place at the surface levels of behavior and beliefs; but if worldviews are not transformed, the gospel is interpreted in terms of pagan worldviews, and the result is Christo-paganism (Hiebert p69).” And, since worldview is linked to language, it goes without saying that the biblical text and Christian terminology must be placed in the language of the people in order for one to be truly Christian within their culture.

[1] Papias’ writings are only available to us through the records kept by Eusebius. In these records, there are two extant quotes regarding authorship of the gospels. In regard to the gospel of Matthew, he writes, “Matthew composed the gospel in the Hebrew dialect and each translated them as best he could.” The early church understood this to mean that Matthew had originally written his gospel in Hebrew and it was soon after translated into Greek. However, scholars, such as D. A. Carson and Douglas J. Moo, have brought the validity of this interpretation of Papias’ statement into question (See 2005:161-162).

References

Carroll, John B., ed. 1956. Language, Thought, and Reality: Selected Writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf. Cambridge: MIT Press. Carson, D. A. & Douglas J. Moo. 2005. An Introduction to the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Zondervan. Doughill, John. 2012. In Search of Japan’s Hidden Christians: A Story of Suppression, Secrecy, and Survival. Rutland: Tuttle Publishing. Hiebert, Paul G. 2008. Transforming Worldviews: An Anthropological Understanding of How People Change. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic. Loewenberg, Richard D. “An Eighteenth Century Pioness of Semantics.” ETC: A Review of General Semantics. 1 (2): 99-104. Institute of General Semantics. Sanneh, Lamin. 1987. “Christian Missions and the Western Guilt Complex.” The Christian Century. 104 (11): 331-334. The Christian Century Foundation. Warneck, Gustav. 1888. Modern Missions and Culture: Their Mutual Relations. Edinburgh: James Gemmell.