tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3931921496989071942.post5296776235410972123..comments2023-06-08T07:32:39.725-05:00Comments on Aristotle's Feminist Subject: A Bible Translator Uses Bad Words ("Ass, Fart, Whore, Piss, Shit")J. K. Gaylehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07600312868663460988noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3931921496989071942.post-68710919345651126932011-09-19T18:58:29.292-05:002011-09-19T18:58:29.292-05:00I just bought Barnstone's The Complete NT, and...I just bought Barnstone's The Complete NT, and I'm looking forward to digging into it. Most of the so-called bad words is our Victorian baggage and has nothing to do with the biblical text, which can get pretty vulger. (Thinking of the story of Abigail where David's oath about "not letting one who pisses against a wall live" gets watered down to "not let one man live.")<br /><br />I'm looking forward to seeing how Barnstone de-Victorianizes translating the New Testament.Shawna Atteberryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12752697766813703698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3931921496989071942.post-59016429428309723442011-08-25T14:47:05.729-05:002011-08-25T14:47:05.729-05:00I am not aware of an answer from Nida - I could im...I am not aware of an answer from Nida - I could imagine one from me. And I suspect this is where Venuti will end up in his Translator's Invisibility. Translation must extend the scope of the reader, breaking the reader out of monolingual culture, comfortable pew, complacent acceptance of status quo etc. To the extent that translation of the Gospel assimilates into a culture foreign to Itself, It will undermine, transform, and reframe those cultural complacencies so that the subject is rebirthed and self translated into a new place. So my own assumptions and fears are reworked - and I think there is some benefit even to those who think they are far from God or Gospel. Why else the positive aspects of Western culture - freedom, openness, tolerance, care for the prisoner and orphan. But these are lights in many cultures and themselves need the invisible and unspeakable foundation. (Which all have or none would live at all - but the Gospel should make it easier to express - though not to understand or explain.)<br /><br />Mind you, my comments locating the Gospel in the Psalms or in TNK are not considered acceptable in some circles - or I am subject to bugs in posting comments. <br /><br />I hope you are well - I have always appreciated your zeal and tenderness since you must approach all these things with a multicultural background. I think I find my own zeal sometimes borders on anger and impatience. Maybe that's why my blather sometimes gets censored.Bob MacDonaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11335631079939764763noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3931921496989071942.post-5270849001867975892011-08-25T14:18:33.555-05:002011-08-25T14:18:33.555-05:00Bob, Thank you very much for sharing the quotation...Bob, Thank you very much for sharing the quotation from Nida. (I believe your citation has Venuti quoting Nida from his <i>From One language to Another: Functional Equivalence in Bible Translating</i>. And doesn't Venuti go on to criticize with the very next sentence to point out: "Nida's concept of dynamic equivalence in Bible translation goes hand in hand with an evangelical zeal that seeks to impose on English-language readers a specific dialect of English as well as a distinctly Christian understanding of the Bible. When Nida's translator identifies with the target-language reader to communicate the foreign text, he simultaneously excludes other target-language cultural constituencies. This is quite an insightful critique. Do you know if Nida ever conceded the point of if he tried to rebut it?) You have probably heard <a href="http://thechurchofjesuschrist.us/2011/08/eugene-nida-dies/" rel="nofollow">the news that Eugene Nida just passed away today</a>.J. K. Gaylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07600312868663460988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3931921496989071942.post-59228552391390457512011-08-24T17:53:31.026-05:002011-08-24T17:53:31.026-05:00I was struck by this quote of Nida in Venuti (p18)...I was struck by this quote of Nida in Venuti (p18): "translations prepared for minority groups must generally involve highly restrictive forms of language, but they must not involve substandard grammar or vulgar wording.'<br /><br />I don't know if there are vulgar words in the psalms. I have not found them necessary - but I was surprised at this sentence.Bob MacDonaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11335631079939764763noreply@blogger.com