Every time I see an ancient text translated, it always sounds like it was spoken by a classy Englishman from the 1800s. Is there a reason it’s translated that way instead of modern English?
Every time I see an ancient text translated, it always sounds like it was spoken by a classy Englishman from the 1800s. Is there a reason it’s translated that way instead of modern English?
That’s a pretty good example. If you get into Bible translation you’ll find there’s a massive world of stuffingy* about different translation approaches. Because as well as having what I presume is by far the largest and longest collective scholarship to study and translate, plus textual criticism over multiple ancient copies, plus emotional hand-me-downs (people liking the KJV because it’s what they grew up with), it’s also considered by many translators to be the holy word of God, so “I think my translation’s a bit clearer than yours” becomes “therefore yours falsely represents the very Words of God and may deceive people away from following the Truth!!!”
Fascinating stuff, though.
*I meant to write ‘argument’ but gboard thought ‘stuffingy’ is better.