I'm a wretch, who, by His glorious grace, has been adopted by the God of the universe. Praise Jesus from coming in the flesh and dying on the cross for the sins of the world to redeem fallen humanity to God. I'm seeking God in all I do, trying to be led by the Spirit-- seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness.
Thought-for-Thought
Since no two languages are identical, either in the meanings given to corresponding symbols or in the ways in which such symbols are arranged in phrases and sentences, it stands to reason that there can be no absolute correspondence between languages. Hence there can be no fully exact translations.
This article reminded me of why I love the NLT so much, as it delivers the Truth in an eloquent, thoughtful manner that reads with such fluidity. As I have been living abroad, in a non-english speaking country, I have seen the wide popularity of thought-for-thought translation, in place of word-for-word. For example, because of the fact that expressions, certain words, and region-specific cultural terms sometimes do not have precise or exact translations; and because most often translations by sentences flow better than translations by individual word, films, television and other media are primarily translated thought-for-thought. If you are bilingual in the two languages represented, you may see slight, if not sometimes significant discrepancies between the two, but nonetheless, you note the language flows more smoothly, as the subject is logically described. Thus, I am coming to better understand the variances in natures between the two styles of translation and recognizing that although the thought-for-thought may be the better, more fluid translation, greater insight and depth can be found reading various translations ranging from thought-for-thought (i.e. the message, and more moderately, the NLT) and always word-for-word (ESV), and finding a balance between the two styles (like the NIV).
(Source: ht.ly)
