From 9dc813303e8476ab0c42a07d743a134b16bb72e4 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: "Joel D. Ruark" Date: Fri, 22 Nov 2019 11:05:20 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] Update 'README.md' (#2078) --- README.md | 9 +++++---- 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-) diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index a9ca814e..8088540d 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ ## Overview -The ULT is an open-licensed update of *The American Standard Version*, intended to provide a ‘form-centric’ understanding of the Bible. It increases the translator’s understanding of the lexical and grammatical composition of the underlying text by adhering closely to the word order and structure of the originals. +The ULT is an open-licensed update of *The American Standard Version*, intended to provide a ‘form-centric’ understanding of the Bible. It increases the translator’s understanding of the lexical and grammatical composition of the underlying text by adhering closely to the word order and structure of the biblical text in the original languages. ## Viewing @@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ file. ### Introduction to the ULT -The ULT (unfoldingWord® Literal Text) is a form-centric, and thus “literal,” version of the Bible in English that is intended to be used alongside the UST (unfoldingWord® Simplified Text) and other translation resources to give English-speaking mother-tongue translators (MTTs) the most complete understanding possible of the messages communicated in the Bible. For MTTs who do not have reading knowledge of the original biblical languages, the ULT provides a sense of *how* these messages were communicated in those original languages. It is anticipated that the ULT and other resource will be translated from English into the world’s Gateway Languages so that MTTs worldwide can use them as a set of resources for making accurate translations of God’s Word into their own languages. +The ULT (unfoldingWord® Literal Text) is a form-centric, and thus “literal,” version of the Bible in English that is intended to be used alongside the UST (unfoldingWord® Simplified Text) and other translation resources to give English-speaking mother-tongue translators (MTTs) the most complete understanding possible of the messages communicated in the Bible. For MTTs who do not have reading knowledge of the original biblical languages, the ULT provides a sense of *how* these messages were communicated in those original languages. It is anticipated that the ULT and other resources will be translated from English into the world’s Gateway Languages so that MTTs worldwide can use them as a set of resources for making accurate translations of God’s Word into their own languages. ### Editing the ULT @@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ The unfoldingWord® Literal Text (ULT) is designed to be used in conjunction wit ### Retaining Original Structures -The ULT needs to retain the original grammatical forms (as far as is possible), the idioms, and the figures of speech of the original so that the MTT can consider them and use them if they communicate the right thing in his or her target language (minority or Other Language (OL), not Gateway Language). If those forms are removed in the English or get changed in a Gateway Language (GL) translation of the ULT, then the OL translator will never see them and the UTN about them will not make sense. Keep in mind that the ULT and the UST are complementary translation tools for the use of the OL translator. We want these tools to be as useful as possible. For the ULT, this means that it should retain structures that we would not always retain in an end-user Bible. The English editor and the GL translator must understand that this means that the ULT will often lack naturalness and sometimes also lack clarity because it is aiming at reproducing these original language structures and figures of speech that the GL may not normally use. Wherever the ULT translation lacks clarity, however, there will also be a Translation Note to explain the meaning of the structure for the OL translator, as well as a clear rendering of the original meaning in the UST. The UTN and the UST will provide the meaning wherever that meaning is in doubt in the ULT. In this way, the tools will work together to provide the OL translator with a full set of information about both the form and the meaning of the original Bible. +The ULT needs to retain the grammatical forms (as far as is possible), the idioms, and the figures of speech of the original languages so that the MTT can consider them and use them if they communicate the right thing in his or her target language (minority or Other Language (OL), not Gateway Language). If those forms are removed in the English or get changed in a Gateway Language (GL) translation of the ULT, then the OL translator will never see them and the UTN about them will not make sense. Keep in mind that the ULT and the UST are complementary translation tools for the use of the OL translator. We want these tools to be as useful as possible. For the ULT, this means that it should retain structures that we would not always retain in an end-user Bible. The English editor and the GL translator must understand that this means that the ULT will often lack naturalness and sometimes also lack clarity because it is aiming at reproducing these original language structures and figures of speech that the GL may not normally use. Wherever the ULT translation lacks clarity, however, there will also be a Translation Note to explain the meaning of the structure for the OL translator, as well as a clear rendering of the original meaning in the UST. The UTN and the UST will provide the meaning wherever that meaning is in doubt in the ULT. In this way, the tools will work together to provide the OL translator with a full set of information about both the form and the meaning of the original Bible. #### Examples @@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ Preferred English renderings appear in bold type. * *Call* in the ASV usage “call his name”: update to “**call him** [+ name]” or “**name him** [+ name].” * *Call* in the formula of the type, “he shall be called the Son of the Most High” (Luke 1:32): keep this formula in the ULT, but be aware of the metaphor that is operative here: in this verse, Jesus will not only be *called the Son of the Most High*, but he will be the Son of the Most High. * *Hand* indicating power or possession: keep this metaphor in the ULT. - * Sentence-initial or preverbal *and* of the type, “And Joseph said,” “And it came about,” etc.: translate these without supplying “And.” These occurrences of “And” in the ASV and its derivatives usually occur where the ASV translates the preverbal Greek particle *kai* or the Hebrew *vav* in the *wayyiqtol* verb form. The Greek particle *kai* was usually a Hebraism on the part of the New Testament writers that reflected their understanding that the Hebrew *wayyiqtol* form contained the conjunctive *vav* ‘and.’ This, however, was a misunderstanding, for modern scholarship has shown that the *wayyiqtol* form was a frozen form with parallels in cognate Semitic languages; it was the preferred Hebrew verb form for signaling event verbs in Hebrew narration. Good English style does not normally allow sentences to begin with “and.” Only rarely is it allowable in the ULT, for dramatic effect. Otherwise, when you are tempted to start a sentence with “and,” change the preceding period to a comma. + * Sentence-initial or preverbal *and* of the type, “And Joseph said,” “And it came about,” etc.: these should be rendered in English somehow, usually as the conjunction "**and**." However, a different conjunction ("**but**", "**so**", etc.) may be selected in cases where a specific logical relationship is clear from the context. * **Shall** vs. **will** : in English future expressions in general, use “**will**” instead of “shall,” e.g., “he is a prophet, and he shall **will** pray for you” (Gen 20:7). Note that some ASV future expressions are better updated into today’s English by using the present tense, e.g., “I shall not drink from…the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come” (Luke 22:18) can be updated to “I **will** not drink…until the kingdom of God **comes**.” Cases in which “shall” expresses obligation can usually be restructured, e.g., “You shall not steal” becomes “ **Do** not steal,” and “Shall I go and smite these Philistines?” (1 Sam. 23:2) becomes “**Should** I go and attack these Philistines?” This general preference for “will” probably conforms to the instincts of most English native speakers. However, in genres such as prophecies, blessings, curses, and in other passages focusing on the expression of the speaker’s intentionality, retain the use of “shall” in the ULT, e.g., “Yahweh said, **’Shall** I hide from Abraham what I am about to do…?’” (Gen 18:17), “A deliverer **shall** come to Zion,” “every mountain and hill **shall** be made low.” * In speech introductions that use two verbs instead of one such as, “**he answered and said**,” please retain this formula in the ULT. This will provide a model for languages which also separate the mode of speech from the act of speech, as does Biblical Hebrew and, often, Greek. In the UST for the same issue, only one verb will be used. @@ -97,6 +97,7 @@ Preferred English renderings appear in bold type. * *YHWH* **Yahweh** (The ASV uses “Jehovah,” but we will not.) * *Meshiach* “**Messiah**” (almost always, “**the Messiah**,” since “Messiah” is a title) * Expressions of the type, “**he knew his wife**” or “**he went into his wife**” should be reproduced as is. The context makes their meaning clear. + * *na'* This Hebrew particle (נָא) must be translated on a case-by-case basis and always with great sensitivity to the specific context of the speech in which it occurs. Some general guidelines are as follows. When the particle appears with a verb in the context of a request made by a person of inferior position to a person of superior position, it can be translated as "please." When the particle appears with a verb in the context of a command given by a person of superior position to a person of inferior position, it can be translated as "now." However, many instances of the particle occur in contexts between these two extremes, where translating the particle as a separate word in English may import too much meaning into the English rendering. Because this particle is an emotive word in Hebrew, in cases like these one might use an exclamation point at the end of the specific clause in order to reflect in the English translation the emotion intended by the use of the particle. It is also acceptable to leave the particle untranslated if any of these three options changes the meaning from the Hebrew too much. #### Translation Glossary for the New Testament ULT