Delodephius wrote:
The Bible is translated virtually into every language. Is it good as a learning resource then?
It depends what it is you want to learn. In more than a few cases, the Biblical register is particularly conservative and stilted and may little, if any, resemblance to the way people actually speak. (Think of, for comparison, the King James Version in English.) Furthermore, Bible translations are quite often the work of missionaries who are non-native speakers of the varieties involved. Not to denigrate their accomplishments, but this often adds to the awkwardness of the language. Wittingly or unwittingly, they may cling to closely to the model offered by their source texts (whether the original Hebrew and Koiné or some later translation, such as the Latin Vulgate). The Gothic Bible of Wulfilas is a good example of this, slavishly following the syntax of the Greek to the point of producing quite unnatural structures for a Germanic language.
For instance, here's the text of John 3:16 according to translation of William Morgan:
Quote:
Canys felly y carodd Duw y byd fel y rhoddodd efe ei unig-anedig Fab, fel na choller pwy bynnag a gredo ynddo ef, ond caffael ohono fywyd tragwyddol.
Despite the fact that this first appeared in 1588, it was the only complete version available until the publication of the
Beibl Cymraeg Newydd (
New Welsh Bible) exactly five hundred years later. Even this uses a rather literary form of Welsh. Compare the passage above to a 2008 online translation that's closer to the modern vernacular:
Quote:
Ydy, mae Duw wedi caru’r byd cymaint nes iddo roi ei unig Fab, er mwyn i bwy bynnag sy'n credu ynddo beidio mynd i ddistryw ond cael bywyd tragwyddol.
There's a lot of overlap in vocabulary, but you don't have to know any Welsh to see how different the syntax is.
