Tanakh
The Tanakh (best transliterated as TaNaKh) is the Jewish title for the Hebrew Bible (which became the Old Testament of the Christian Bible).
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Target language (TL)
The language into which something is translated. Abbreviated TL. Sometimes called the receptor language.
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Text
Text is essentially a synonym for discourse. For many, however, text refers to a written composition, whereas discourse refers to either oral or written speech.
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Textual criticism
The process of trying to determine which copies are closest to the original texts. Biblical textual criticism attempts to determine which variants within the various copies available are mostly likely to be part of the original texts in which the Bible was written. Also called lower criticism. See Critical text and Majority Text.
The following websites feature textual criticism:
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Textus Receptus
Latin name for a Greek New Testament text which is very close to the text selections which the translators of the KJV used. Abbreviated as TR. Also known as the Received Text, which is the English translation of this Latin name. The TR favored a text tradition known as the Byzantine text type. Compare Majority Text and Critical text.
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Theological terms
These are words for important religious concepts found in the Bible. These words are usually semantically complex, that is, they contain several meaning elements bundled in a single word. In their unitary form, they are usually not understood well, if at all, by the average language speaker who does not have specialized religious (church or school) training. These words are part of church jargon. Examples of theological terms found in some English Bible versions are: covenant, grace, justify, propitiation, repent, righteousness, and sanctify. Those concerned about Bible translation issues debate whether such theological terms should be left in translation as single complex terms, or further translated to vernacular English with their complex meaning elements unbundled to phrases containing words found in the average speakers' vocabularies. For instance, instead of using the single word "Repent!", the translator can unbundle it to the equivalent phrase, "Turn from your sins!" The debate over inclusion of theological words largely hinges on who is the intended audience for a translation, and whether or not we want that audience to be able to understand the words in the translation by themselves or with the assistance of religiously trained clergy, commentaries, or other Bible helps. At this website we believe it is usually best to translate all words into the vernacular, including theological terms.
Visit these other websites which define various theological terms:
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Thought-for-thought translation
One way of referring to idiomatic translation. The New Living Translation is often described as a thought-for-thought translation. In such a translation the meaning of the original Biblical text is expressed in equivalent thoughts, that is, meanings. Thought-for-thought translation is typically contrasted with word-for-word translation.
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Transculturation
Transculturation is adaptation of the message of the Bible so that that message can more easily communicate to people whose culture is different from the cultures of Bible times. Bible translators should not adapt the original message of the Bible to any culture. To be true to the biblical source text, Bible translators need to retain references to historical, cultural, and other aspects of the original contexts in which the Bible was written.
Some books on transculturation as it relates to missionization are:
Kraft, Charles H. 1979. Christianity in culture. A study in dynamic biblical theologizing in cross-cultural perspective. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis.
Shaw, R. Daniel. 1988. Transculturation: The Cultural Factor in Translation and Other Communication Tasks. Pasadena: William Carey Library.
Wendland, Ernst R. 1987. The Cultural Factor in Bible Translation. UBS Monograph Series, No. 2. New York: United Bible Societies.
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Translation
Translation is the process of transferring the meaning of utterances in one language to another.
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Translation theory
The study of proper principles of translation. Translation theory is based on a solid foundation of understanding of how languages work. It recognizes that different languages encode meaning in differing forms, yet guides translators to find appropriate ways of preserving meaning while using the most appropriate forms of each language. Translators of the Bible, including those of English versions, should become well informed in translation theory.
Translation theory includes principles for translating figurative language, dealing with lexical mismatches, rhetorical questions, inclusion of cohesion markers, and many other topics crucial to good translation.
Some good introductions to translation theory and practice are:
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Translationese
Translationese is odd, unnatural language which only appears in translations. Many translations of the Bible have a great deal of translationese in them, including non-English syntactic patterns borrowed from the original biblical languages and semantic oddities, such as lexical combinations (collocational clashes) which are not permitted in English, but were part of the lexicon of the biblical language being translated.
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Transliteration
Transliteration is the simple matching of symbols between the alphabets of different languages. For instance, we can transliterate from Greek to English
logo"
logos
to show how to pronounce the Greek word for "word."
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Trope
See Trope.
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