son vs. grandson

“Son of x, son of y” must be rendered as “son of x and grandson of y” in Tibetan or else it will sound like two different people.

Note: The same translation solution is chosen in many contemporary English Bibles that emphasize easy readability, such as the Contemporary English Version, Common English Bible, Good News Translation, God’s Word, or New Living Translation.

See also father / grandfather.

witness

The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “witness” in English is translated as “truly have seen” in Highland Popoluca, as “telling the truth regarding something” (Eastern Highland Otomi), as “know something” in Lalana Chinantec, as “verily know something to be the truth” in San Mateo del Mar Huave, as “we ourselves saw this,” in Desano, as “tell the truth about something” in Eastern Highland Otomi, as “know something is true because of seeing it” in Teutila Cuicatec. (Source: Viola Waterhouse in Notes on Translation August 1966, p. 86ff.)

Baruch

The Hebrew and Greek that is transliterated as “Baruch” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with a sign depicting “Assistant to Jeremiah,” referring to Jeremiah 36:4 et al. For Jeremiah as the “crying prophet” in sign language translation, see here. (Source: Steve Parkhurst)


“Baruch” in Spanish Sign Language, source: Sociedad Bíblica de España

Translation commentary on Jeremiah 32:12

To avoid a somewhat long and complex sentence, Good News Translation uses two sentences, repeating the verb “gave.” Some translators will even find it more natural to have a third sentence at the end; for example, “The men who were sitting in the courtyard were also there.”

Son of … son of: Good News Translation renders this with the more natural English “son of … grandson of.”

Witnesses: See verse 10.

Jews is rendered “Judeans” by several translations, in part because the term “Jew” was not generally used at the time of Jeremiah. Good News Translation avoids the problem with “people.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Jeremiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2003. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .