Report: (3-4 min.)  Give reasons why a strict, word-for-word, interlinear-style translation is not always the most accurate. (nwt 1718)

    Brother: 1 – Joaquin Bermudez

Some might conclude that a strict, word-for-word, interlinear-style translation would enable the reader to get closest to what was expressed in the original languages. However, that is not always the case. Consider a few of the reasons:

• No two languages are exactly alike in grammar, vocabulary, and sentence structure. A professor of Hebrew, S. R. Driver, wrote that languages “differ not only in grammar and roots, but also . . . in the manner in which ideas are built up into a sentence.” Different languages require quite different thought patterns. “Consequently,” continues Professor Driver, “the forms taken by the sentence in different languages are not the same.”
• No modern language exactly mirrors the vocabulary and grammar of Biblical Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, so a word-for-word translation of the Bible could be unclear or at times could even convey the wrong meaning.
• The meaning of a word or an expression may vary depending on the context in which it is used. A translator may be able to mirror the literal rendering of the original language in some passages, but this must be done very carefully.

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