Language Equivalency
Bible translation is a complex task of studying the vocabulary,
grammar and syntax of both the original language (Hebrew in the
Old Testament, Greek in the New Testament, and Aramaic in a few
chapters in the Old Testament) and the destination language (e.g.,
English). Part of the complexity is due to the fact that words
in one language often do not have an exact equivalent in another
language. Two major translation philosophies seek to overcome
this difficulty.
Formal equivalency seeks a word-for-word literal equivalency
as often as possible. However, this sometimes makes no sense in
the destination language because of differences between languages
in sentence structure and grammar. Dynamic equivalency seeks to
communicate the exact meaning of the words. However, this sometimes
results in an interpretive translation which is more subject to
the interpreter's bias.
No translation completely conforms to either method. To calculate
how closely various translations conform to either method, a deviation
test has been developed. This test has shown the KJV, NKJV
and NASB to be fairly similar literal translations. The NIV falls
in the free translation category with the goal of translating
ideas, and the Living Bible and Phillips Modern English Bible
are paraphrases. The American Standard Version of 1901 is the
most literal. Literal translations generally make more reliable
study tools.
Attempting to capture the nuances of the source language sometimes
results in awkward English. The ideal is to eliminate distortion
and awkwardness without sacrificing faithfulness to the original
text as much as possible.
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The Deviation Test
The deviation test first assigns consecutive
numbers to the original Hebrew or Greek words. Each word
is translated into its nearest English equivalent, keeping
the Greek or Hebrew word order intact. The English word
order is then adjusted along with whatever other changes
are necessary to achieve readable English. The original
sequential number remains with the original words. This
produces the closest accurate and meaningful English equivalent
of the Hebrew or Greek text which becomes the norm for comparing
other translations.
English translations are then compared
with this translation by noting five kinds of deviations:
changes in word order, omissions from the text, lexical
alterations, syntactical alterations and additions to the
text. Each deviation is assigned a numerical value depending
on the kind and degree of difference between the closest
equivalent and the version under investigation. The values
are totaled to establish the deviation value for the section.
This number is adjusted to reflect the deviation value per
one hundred words. The process is repeated for other samplings,
and the values are averaged to obtain a single deviation
for the whole book. Then versions can be compared. (Thomas,
Robert L., An Introductory Guide for Choosing English Bible
Translations, 1988, p. 52)
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Original
Works
 Language
Equivalency
Text
Families
Original
Scribal Errors
Format
Variations
Theological
Bias
Greek
Old Testament
English
Versions
King
James Version
After
1611
Alexandrine
Texts
Variations
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