Fascinated by Languages
Author
In this unique account of 60 years of Bible translation, Eugene Nida sets out his journey with a personal touch. On the way, he reveals the importance of a solid knowledge of Greek and Hebrew as well as of the historical settings in which the Bible was created, in order to render effective translations. Through his story we get to know Nida's views on translations through the ages, in different cultures and narrative traditions, right through to the 21st Century.
This book is in the first place a study in anthropological linguistics that tells the rich history of Bible translation, the Bible Societies, translator training, and cultural translation problems.
This book is in the first place a study in anthropological linguistics that tells the rich history of Bible translation, the Bible Societies, translator training, and cultural translation problems.
Eugene A. Nida (1914) went to UCLA (Phi Beta Kappa, 1936) and the University of Southern California (Helenistic Greek, 1939). He taught at the Summer Institute of Linguistics from 1937-1952 and is past president of the Linguistic Society of America (1968).
From 1943-1981 he was language consultant for the American Bible Society and the United Bible Societies which led him to study many cultures across 96 countries and to lecture in over a hundred universities and colleges to this day.
His published works include Bible Translating (1946), Customs and Cultures (1954), Toward a Science of Translating (1964), Religion across Cultures (1968), The Sociolinguistics of Intercultural Communication (1996) and Translation in Context (2002).
[Not in series, 119] 2003. vi, 157 pp.
Publishing status: Available
© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Table of Contents
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Fascinated by languages | p. 1
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Part I. In more than ninety countries
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Travel surprises | p. 11
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Africa South of the Sahara | p. 13
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Asia | p. 25
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Latin America | p. 46
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North America | p. 53
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Eastern Europe | p. 58
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Western Europe | p. 62
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Part II: Bible Translation, Texts and Interpretations
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Bible translation | p. 69
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Bible as literary genre | p. 81
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Texts and interpretations | p. 87
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Specifc Bible translation problems | p. 117
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Part III. A Personal Touch
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Who am I? | p. 135
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Index | p. 153
“[...] anyone interested in language and culture cannot fail to be compelled by Nida's descriptions of and insights on scriptural translation. They are a testament to an extraordinary career.”
Christine Winskowski, Iwate Prefectural University, Japan on Linguist List 15-495 (Feb. 2004)
“I believe the book to be an important and welcome contribution to the field. It is a practical value to translator trainees as well as to teachers of translation. It also includes some information of historical value for those interested in the history of the theory of translation. And last but not least, it includes a critique of the most useful (according to the author of course) seventeen practical volumes in the field published in the twentieth century, and an up-to-date reference list. It is a practical book written by a down-to-earth scholar for skillful translators.”
Prof. Moheiddin A. Homeidi, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in Babel Vol. 51:2 (2005).
Cited by
Cited by 13 other publications
Beard, Luna & Jaqueline S. du Toit
2009. A Proactive Approach to the Translation of Bible Stories for Children. Meta 50:4 
Dickie, June
2017. Using Features of Indigenous Poetry and Music in the Oral Performance of Some Praise Psalms in Isizulu. Journal of Translation 13:1 ► pp. 1 ff.
Dickie, June F.
2017. Community Translation and Oral Performance of Some Praise Psalms within the Zulu Community. The Bible Translator 68:3 ► pp. 253 ff.
Dickie, June F.
2018. Revisiting the practice of Bible-translation: The need to engage ordinary believers when translating the Psalms. Verbum et Ecclesia 39:1
Dickie, June F.
2019. The Importance of Literary Rhythm When Translating Psalms for Oral Performance (in Zulu). The Bible Translator 70:1 ► pp. 64 ff.
Dickie, June F.
2021. Translating psalms for Africa today: Involving the community and transmitting through performance. In die Skriflig / In Luce Verbi 55:3
Dickie, June F.
2022. Translating Psalms for Performance and Their Use in Various Ministries within the Church: Examples from South Africa. The Bible Translator 73:1 ► pp. 6 ff.
Knepper, Gert M.
2015. Nida’s Γύναι: Eugene Nida’s Views on the Use of Γύναι in John 2.4. The Bible Translator 66:2 ► pp. 159 ff.
Philpotts, Matthew, Shirley Chew, Michael Schreiber, Jill Karlik, Jean Peeters & Dai Junxia
2006. Book Reviews. The Translator 12:1 ► pp. 139 ff.
Rozhkov, Roman Aleksandrovich & Elena Yur'evna Mamonova
2019. TYPOLOGY OF MISTAKES IN AUDIO-VISUAL TRANSLATION FOR DUBBING. Philology. Theory & Practice 12:6 ► pp. 387 ff.
Rozhkov, Roman Aleksandrovich, Ekaterina Vladimirovna Zubkova & Irina Kimovna Fedorova
2022. Typology of Mistakes in Audiovisual Translation of Subtitles from English into Russian. Philology. Theory & Practice 15:6 ► pp. 2046 ff.
Stanlaw, James
2020. Nida, Eugene. In The International Encyclopedia of Linguistic Anthropology, ► pp. 1 ff.
Stecconi, Ubaldo
2012. Rhetoric and translation. In Handbook of Translation Studies [Handbook of Translation Studies, 3], ► pp. 151 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 15 november 2023. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.
Subjects
Linguistics
Translation & Interpreting Studies
Main BIC Subject
CFP: Translation & interpretation
Main BISAC Subject
LAN023000: LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Translating & Interpreting