NWT from Greek/Hebrew into other languages?

by Counter-Watchtower 23 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Counter-Watchtower

  Does JW Org claim to have translated the NWT into other languages from Greek/Hebrew? Or do they not even say? Because if they did claim that they would have to have Biblical scholars in Biblical Greek/Hebrew from every language, that would be a ton of ppl! And take a lot of time!

  Now I know from reading the English NWT that it was probably a few different english translations they used and modified words with a Strong Concordance like book. And Im sure thats what they did with the other languages...
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  careful

  If you are "sure that[']s what they did with the other languages," then why are you asking about it? What's the point of this post?
  
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  dropoffyourkeylee

  I have heard from COs and other speakers that non-English translations are primarily translations from the English NWT into the third language (third being from GreekOrHebrew to English to the third language. I don't have first hand knowledge, but I believe this to be so based on the WT speakers' comments.
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  scratchme1010

  Does JW Org claim to have translated the NWT into other languages from Greek/Hebrew? Or do they not even say?
  

  Why do you keep asking so many questions about the JW teachings here? They have their own website, they have their own literature and they are more than happy to answer any question about their teachings that you ask.

  Just sayin'
  
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  kepler

  How is the NWT translated into Greek different from ... Well, the Greek?

  Reminds me of a book written by a Russian dissident, Vladimir Voinovich, titled Moscow 2042. Instead of walking into an ordinary travel agency in Munich of 1982, he ended up in a time travel one as well. Originally, he wanted to see what Moscow would be like 50 years in the future, but that flight was already fully booked. So, anyway, he gets on board the 60 year in the future flight and arrives to be met by Intourist travel guides and interpreters. They knew he was coming. And every time he opened his mouth to speak in Russian, the intrepreters would yell out the same thing like an echo. He asked them why they were doing that when it was clear that he could speak for himself. The reply: "Every word you say has to be interpreted in context."
  
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  Caminante

  The vernacular versions of the New World Translations are based on the English edition, but translators have access to an internal knowledge base and reference library where they can look up Hebrew-English and Greek-English interlinears to better understand the original texts.
  
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  Phizzy

  If you look back at Narkissos' life story Thread you will see that he was a Translator for the Org, English in to French if memory serves.

  The interesting thing is that they have never really done a proper translation from the oldest original language manuscripts, as the O.P rightly supposes, they have never had an in-house scholar capable of doing so.

  It is testament to the strange skills of Frederick Franz that he was able, with the help of assistants, to produce a passable Bible version, which never was a Translation, just a rehash of the work of real scholars. It should have been called The New World Plagiarized Version.
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  Earnest

  kepler : How is the NWT translated into Greek different from ... Well, the Greek?

  You may as well ask, how is Chaucer's English different from ... well, English?
  
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  kepler

  Earnest,

  In answer to your question, I did a little digging.
  

  Not being a specialist in either Middle English or Greek ( though I've spent time at both modern and ancient from time in the country and time with texts) I would say that we have digressed more from Middle English than the modern demotic Greek has from the Koine.

  In fact, I am not sure that a Greek version of the NWT exists.
  

  But still, here is the notion that New York based translators working from a collection of English translations add a theological insertion here and there and process it all back into passable Greek. What does this foreign intrusion provide a Greek Orthodox Christian with his own Bible already notated by nearly 2000 years of commentary.

  In English, the NWT does not retain the language of the King James - and I don't mean that as a compliment. Unless a new edited edition of Canterbury Tales were written for a comic book, an effort would be taken to retain the verse.
  

  It does not devote much effort toward the original OT verse. The verse and meter were there in the original Hebrew, but there is no grasp of it in the NWT. How was that faithful to the original?
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  Caminante

  There is a modern Greek edition of the New World Translation, and it was released in 1998.as Η Αγία Γραφή—Μετάφραση Νέου Κόσμου (He Hagía Graphé--Metáphrase Néou Kósmou). There are consistent differences between ancient Greek and modern Greek. Probably the most visually evident is that ancient Greek uses polytonic orthography, while modern Greek uses monotonic orthography. Pronunciation also differs significantly, and vocabulary too. You may wish to compare the Greek of the Kingdom Interlinear Translation with the New Testament portion of the New World Translation in Greek to see the difference for yourself.