Translation a daunting endeavor

In the lead paragraph of Lynn Arave's story on this page, he says the Bible has been translated into more than 2,400 languages.

That's a real eye-catcher.

It's also 2,375 more languages than I can even name.

And as someone who speaks Spanish and has tried his feeble hand at translation, my hat is off to every man, woman and child who made it happen.

Translators, I'm convinced, are the hidden heroes of modern religion.

Without translators, the words of Jesus would still be trapped in the hilly little communities of Galilee. Without translators, there would be no Martin Luthers, Mother Teresas or Brigham Youngs.

And translating is not only a thankless task, it's a bedeviling job, as well.

I sometimes think of writing a newspaper column as singing a solo. I can bend the notes how I like and play with rhythms to my heart's content.

But translating a column is like trying to sing a solo while, at the same time, making every note harmonize with another voice. If you get the wrong word or miss a twist of a thought, it's like a member of a duet singing off pitch. And the grating noise is often heard around the world.

The first rule of translation, of course, is to always translate into your native language where possible. If you don't, you'll make mistakes you don't know you're making.

Take "word pairs," for example. In both English and Spanish, people say "salt and pepper" and "day and night." But Spanish speakers say "white and black" instead of "black and white." And getting it wrong can cause a reader to wince.

But in my limited experience, humor will always be the toughest thing to translate.

I was translating a sacrament meeting into English for the Sycamore Branch awhile back. After the choir sang, the branch president (who was from Latin America) stood up and congratulated the "Sicomoro Sicorromos" for their music. I was hung out to dry. He was making an elaborate pun with Spanish words that I could only translate as the "Sycamore Songbirds."

Linguists say the Apostle Paul had sense of humor that is often lost in translation. In the Epistle to Philemon, for instance, Paul mentions the word "love" several times in the first few verses, a play on the Greek prefix "Phil" — or love — in the man's name.

And one Old Testament prophet is even said to have rhymed the names of cities with words for the types of destruction they were all in for.

As for translating the scriptures, I can't imagine shouldering such a task — knowing that millions of people would read whatever you came up with as the word of God and would speak the words you chose with reverence for decades.

I think if anything could drive a cocky "word person" to his knees, that would probably do the trick.

Being a translator can be the most daunting task in the world.

But don't take my word for it.

Ask Joseph Smith.

e-mail: jerjohn@desnews.com