[B-Greek] re my wooden interlinear translations
George F Somsel
gfsomsel at juno.com
Fri Nov 4 16:39:40 EST 2005
On Fri, 04 Nov 2005 15:11:05 -0600 "Dan Gleason" <dan-bgreek at hotmail.com>
writes:
> re my wooden interlinear translations
>
> Dr Conrad wrote: Dan, you've made perfectly clear that you intend to
> persist
> with this "interlinear" mode of transliteration despite the fact
> that
> several respondents have called attention to its inaccurate
> representation
> of the sense of the Greek. So here "immerse" for "BAPTIZW" has
> been
> faulted by several respondents as inaccurate certainy for the
> second verb
> form here (BAPTISEI), and while you might think "a Holy Spirit"
> accurately
> represents the Greek text PNEUMATI hAGIWi, what you're deriving
> from the
> Greek is pidgin- English rather than an equivalent of what the
> Greek text
> says. What's wrong with this "interlinear" style of "translation"
> is that
> it's based on an assumption that the "forest" of a sequence of
> discourse
> is no less and no more than but exactly equal to the sum of the
> "trees" of
> words inside that sequence. I think that's been stated in
> different ways
> in several of the responses to your idiosyncratic renderings of
> Marcan
> texts, but I felt it was worth reiterating "yet once more again,"
> despite
> the fact that you've made it obvious that you intend to go on
> doing it
> this way.
>
> DG: Dr Conrad and others have criticized the way I translate many
> times. As
> you can deduce, there is a night and day difference between the
> grammar in
> my posts verses the grammar in my translations. I am very cognizant
> of the
> fact that my translations sound like pidgin English and that the
> grammar is
> tortured. I know my translations sound idiosyncratic. And I know it
> rubs
> many of you the wrong way - it's not a proper translation - it's
> frustrating
> to read - I should know better - and all that. I thought that the
> comment
> of the "forest of trees being equal to the sum of the trees" was a
> very
> accurate description of my translations. I just want you all to know
> that is
> the way I read the Greek text. I read it in painfully literal way -
> and I
> do it on purpose - for a purpose. And the reason is not to get
> people mad at
> me. And the reason is not to make fun of the text. And (kai) the
> reason is
> not to insult your intelligence. I do it to emulate Marks style,
> which
> appears on the surface, at times, to be grotesque. I do it because I
> am
> writing a book on Mark - that views the imagery of the text as a
> form of
> stagecraft one would see in a Greek play. The scenes are simple and
> so are
> the props. You have characters and choruses. The descriptions are
> minimal.
> The dialogue is easy to remember. My commentaries on the text are
> going to
> be from a metaphorical viewpoint in the style of Friedrich Weinreb
> who wrote
> Roots of the Bible. The grotesque grammar is not to be corrected.
> The
> translation is to be as wooden as I can render it. That's where the
>
> "carpentry" begins. That's what joining this list is all about. I
> don't want
> any mistakes in my translation. I want my translations to look like
> raw
> lumber - and out of that lumber I will build the commentary on the
> "play."
> It's all about visual stagecraft puns.
>
> So, in closing, I just want to let you all know I am not mad or
> upset. I'm
> not interested in defending my translations, my take on the text, my
>
> incorrect grammar, winning anyone over to my point of view, or
> anything like
> that. I just want to ask some simple questions about how to
> literally
> translate the text. I thought that doing it through the buffer of a
> standard
> English bible translation might be the best policy to keep everyone
> happy.
>
> Dan Gleason
______________-
I don't mean to attack or encourage you in your project, but did you ever
consider that a better way might be to do a real translation in which you
do not ** mimic ** Mark's Greek style but to attempt to find an **
equivalent ** style in English which would convey a sense of what you
believe you find in Mark?
george
gfsomsel
___________
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