The Greek that is translated in English typically as “vine” is translated in Lak as къюмайтӀутӀул мурхьра: “the (grape-)cluster tree.”
Vitaly Voinov tells this story:
“Laks (who live in the mountainous regions of Dagestan) historically have had no experience with planting and tending vineyards. They buy grapes at the market or the store, but that’s about all they know of grape growing. Thus, in field testing, none of the readers could picture the primary image of this chapter. The translator’s initial attempt of rendering ‘vine’ as ‘grape stalk’ met with complete non-understanding. After much discussion of the problem and potential solutions, we settled on what one of the field testing respondents suggested to remedy the problem: ‘vine’ was rendered as ‘the (grape-)cluster tree’ (къюмайтӀутӀул мурхьра). Technically grapes of course don’t grow on trees, but something had to be put in the text, and it had to be said in a way that the average reader/hearer could understand it. The Lak team could have borrowed the Russian word for ‘vine’ (лоза), but since this is a very low-frequency word in the Russian language, it’s likely that many Laks wouldn’t know the Russian word either. So the team settled for a reduction of accuracy in order to achieve greater clarity. After all, the primary point of importance in this passage is not a horticultural analysis, but a metaphorical comparison to the spiritual world, to the relationship between the Father, His Son, and the followers of Jesus. This rendering allows readers to get to the core of this meaning without getting tangled up in unknown terms.”
Orthodox Icons are not drawings or creations of imagination. They are in fact writings of things not of this world. Icons can represent our Lord Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the Saints. They can also represent the Holy Trinity, Angels, the Heavenly hosts, and even events. Orthodox icons, unlike Western pictures, change the perspective and form of the image so that it is not naturalistic. This is done so that we can look beyond appearances of the world, and instead look to the spiritual truth of the holy person or event. (Source )
Following are a number of back-translations of John 15:5:
Uma: “‘I am the tree trunk and you are the branches. People who remain in-harmony with me and I with them, they bear much fruit. But if you are separate from me, you cannot do anything.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “‘I am the stock of a plant and you are figuratively the branches. If you remain in/with me and I also remain in/with you you can do much good, for if you are separated/cut off from me, what you do has no good-end-result.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Because I am the body and you are my branches. The person who does not separate from me just like I will not separate from him, he is the one who is able to continue fruiting. You cannot do anything if you separate from me.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Then he repeated to illustrate, ‘I am the base of the grape-plant and you are its branches. Whoever continues to be-united-with me so that I will also be united-with him, this is the one whose faith has much fruit, because a person is able to do nothing if I am not with him.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “I am the one who is the base and stem of the ubas plant. You are the ones who are like my branches. The one who will hold fast to me, I will hold fast to him also. If it’s like that, his fruit will always be much. For it’s true, there’s nothing at all which you can do if you separate from me.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “I am like a vine. You are like the branches. He who does not forsake me increasingly lives a good life because we are in fellowship. You can’t do anything if you forsake me.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Like many languages (but unlike Greek or Hebrew or English), Tuvan uses a formal vs. informal 2nd person pronoun (a familiar vs. a respectful “you”). Unlike other languages that have this feature, however, the translators of the Tuvan Bible have attempted to be very consistent in using the different forms of address in every case a 2nd person pronoun has to be used in the translation of the biblical text.
As Voinov shows in Pronominal Theology in Translating the Gospels (in: The Bible Translator 2002, p. 210ff.), the choice to use either of the pronouns many times involved theological judgment. While the formal pronoun can signal personal distance or a social/power distance between the speaker and addressee, the informal pronoun can indicate familiarity or social/power equality between speaker and addressee.
Here, Jesus is addressing his disciples, individuals and/or crowds with the formal pronoun, showing respect.
In most Dutch translations, Jesus addresses his disciples and common people with the informal pronoun, whereas they address him with the formal form.
As noted in the discussion of verse 1, it may be possible to render vine as “vine stalk,” but it seems better to translate it as meaning the entire plant and the branches as part of it.
In some languages it may be necessary to change the metaphor I am the vine to a simile, for example, “I am like the vine.” This change would be similar to that required in verse 1. Likewise, you are the branches may be rendered as “you are like the branches.”
Whoever remains is a participial construction in Greek (literally “the one remaining”), but it is equivalent in English to an indefinite relative clause (see 12.44). The indefinite relative clause Whoever remains in me, and I in him may be regarded as a conditional, for example, “If a person remains a part of me and I a part of him, then he will bear much fruit” or “… he will be able to accomplish much.”
Will bear is in the present tense in Greek (most translations have “bear”), but the Greek present tense can be used to indicate the future, especially when the certainty of the action is to be emphasized. Moreover, if these words are viewed from the time perspective of Jesus’ day, to translate as a future tense seems more natural.
The phrase without me is emphatic in the Greek sentence structure. Without me may be rendered in some languages “only with my help,” for example, “you cannot do anything except with my help” or “you can do something only with my help” or “… only with me helping you.”
Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.