Abstract
The ministry of Bible translation is an important component of the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18�20) and its mandate is to reach everyone with the word of God. One of the main goals of a Bible translation project is to produce a translation that will be used by the church in a given language group. Bible translation teams believe that the lives of the intended recipients will be changed positively when they gain access to Scripture in their own language. However, recent developments regarding Scripture use have shown that the success of any Bible translation project depends on whether or not its products are acceptable. If a translation is not acceptable to the intended audience, it may not be used, and as a result, it may fail to bring about the desired impact. This article explores the concept of �acceptability� as used in Bible translation and highlights important considerations that translators need to keep in mind in order to enhance the acceptability of their translation products.
Highlights
THE PHENOMENON OF ACCEPTABILITY IN BIBLE TRANSLATION1 ‘Acceptability’ as a principle in Bible translationIn his article entitled ‘Perceived authenticity: The fourth criterion of good translation’, Andersen (1998) proposes that the fourth criterion for a good translation – in addition to accuracy, clarity and naturalness (Barnwell 1992:23) – is ‘perceived authenticity’.2 He defines perceived authenticity as ‘the receptor audience’s perception that the text is an authentic and trustworthy version of the original message’
Larsen agrees with Andersen on the need to acknowledge the existence of the fourth criterion for a good (Bible) translation, namely that the receptor audience expects to see certain things in a translation before they can trust it as a true word of God
According to Larsen, accuracy, clarity and naturalness are well-known criteria for an objective evaluation of a translation, but the fourth criterion is different because it is concerned with how the intended receptor audience evaluates the text without necessarily having been trained in translation principles (Larsen 2001:40)
Summary
Affiliation: 1Department of Biblical Studies, Theology and Philosophy, St Paul’s University, Kenya. How to cite this article: Chemorion, D.C., 2009, ‘Considerations for acceptability in Bible translation’, Verbum et Ecclesia 30(2), Art. Note: The author of this article, Dr D.C. Chemorion, is an alumnus of Stellenbosch University. This article is adapted from the author’s dissertation that was submitted as fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Theology at Stellenbosch University (cf Chemorion 2008). Dr Chemorion is a lecturer of Biblical and Translational Studies at St Paul’s University, Kenya
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