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To Bible or not to Bible? | ||
Tags: Translation | Book | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| Expugnator Hexaglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 5164 days ago 3335 posts - 4349 votes  Speaks: Portuguese*, Norwegian, French, English, Italian, Papiamento Studies: Mandarin, Georgian, Russian | Message 1 of 25 15 April 2013 at 8:33pm | IP Logged |
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Many of us who have tried less commonly learned languages know that a Bible translation is often the only native resource you will find with a translation on your source language as well. This is my case with Papiamento, and, even if it's not the case with Georgian (I have other sources), I feel that using a familiar text like the Bible will help me get more familiarized with the language sooner.
So, I got one and the same edition of the Bible with its Papiamento, Georgian and Portuguese editions. I thought of doing a little of each of these two languages and only resorting to the Portuguese answer key when necessary. That is, I'd read one page in Georgian till I got tired. Later on that day, I'd read the next page in Papiamento. That way I'd keep the text going. I'm assuming all the translations have up-to-date language, and so it's not a bible in Ancient Georgian we're dealing with. But then I always fear that I'd leave the most "safe" resource for another language I'd have even less resources for. Like, if I'd read the entire Bible, I wouldn't read it again if I decided to learn a Bantu language for which I only had the Bible as well. That's the case with Le Petit Prince: I just read it in Georgian and in French, and I wouldn't stand reading it in Amharic even if that was my only source. So, that's my dilemma. I do think it will be helpful for both languages but I fear I'd waste an important resource. Is there a secular alternative to the Bible? Maybe a website that gets translated quite often? (though I still prefer books, novels are even better). 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Hampie Diglot Senior Member Sweden Joined 6657 days ago 625 posts - 1009 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: Latin, German, Mandarin | Message 2 of 25 15 April 2013 at 9:19pm | IP Logged |
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The problem with the bible is that the language is far from the same that people speak – so there is a possibility that
you learn very weird and archaic suff. It's also totally derived of cultural context for your source language, as the context of the bible is the judaeo-christian early traditions in the middle east and the Mediterranean. The purity laws and the genealogies are plenty in the Old Testament and the new is albeit full of beautiful analogies still very hebraio-graecocentric. Very often when translating the bible entire idioms and expressions are translated literally rather than ideomatically. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| leroc Senior Member United States Joined 4309 days ago 114 posts - 167 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 3 of 25 15 April 2013 at 11:58pm | IP Logged |
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Pros of using the bible:
-Solid translations that are meticulously rendered -Important idioms and cultural phrases originated from the bible "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" "Am I my brothers keeper" "Oh ye of little faith" "A wolf in sheep's clothing" -High probability of an audio book -Many different chapters provide variety -Many people have at least some knowledge of the events of the bible, which could help provide an idea of the contents Cons of using the bible: -Possibly boring -Occasionally difficult language (depends on the chapter) Edited by leroc on 16 April 2013 at 12:03am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Expugnator Hexaglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 5164 days ago 3335 posts - 4349 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, Norwegian, French, English, Italian, Papiamento Studies: Mandarin, Georgian, Russian | Message 4 of 25 16 April 2013 at 12:00am | IP Logged |
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It's waaay far less translated than the Bible itself ;) Besides, I did read it, and I don't like to go through the same story again.
I don't know, I think it can be useful. I can disregard the anachonicity of the text and make good use of it, already tried. It's much easier to retain vocabulary when you already know the context. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| mikonai Diglot Senior Member United States weirdnamewriting.bloRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4927 days ago 178 posts - 281 votes Speaks: English*, Italian Studies: Swahili, German | Message 5 of 25 16 April 2013 at 2:05am | IP Logged |
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The Bible is a very long and very dense book: you may find that you can't remember all
that happens, which means it'd be fine to read through again, particularly if you're reading it in different languages. However, I would second the caution that it tends to use very formal language and ideas, even if it's not an old translation. Of course, I have a Bible App on my phone, which means that I get to read it pretty much any language I could want, and when you're low on materials to work with, that's definitely worth something. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5373 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 6 of 25 16 April 2013 at 2:49am | IP Logged |
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Not only are there thousands of translations, but there are thousands of audio books of the bible. Faith Comes by Hearing has many of them as free downloads here.
Also, there is the Jesus Film Project with 1182 different languages here. For people who want to learn obscure languages I cannot imagine a better resource. Edited by James29 on 16 April 2013 at 2:51am 7 persons have voted this message useful | |
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5260 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 7 of 25 16 April 2013 at 4:05am | IP Logged |
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I'll second James 29. I enjoyed Genesis for Haitian Creole in both audio and text.
For other books in Papiamento Lista di buki na Papiamento pa mucha en tre 4 - 12 aña I was curious myself, after having tried to locate resources in Haitian Creole, and found Fundashon pa Planifikashon di Idioma with a list of books available (not for download) in Papiamento with ISBN numbers. You can also have a look at the collection of the Digital Library of the Caribbean- browse by collection There is some material available from the ABC islands in Papiamento. The dLOC can be difficult to navigate. I found a ton of stuff for Haitian Creole there. If you can't directly download, you can print a copy to pdf with the print icon. Boa sorte! Edited by iguanamon on 16 April 2013 at 4:06am 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4705 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 8 of 25 16 April 2013 at 10:04am | IP Logged |
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Hmmm, do you like reading the Bible is honestly the question here. It's a book like any
other and it does have a serious boatload of translations, so that's good - the problem is that I wouldn't really want to be caught reading it because people will think you're some religious nut. But if you like good old-fashioned horror stories, go for it! 5 persons have voted this message useful |
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