Septuagint - Attitudes toward Scripture Translation

[Neto]

As I've mentioned before, I was a member on a Jewish forum for some time, before it closed down. So I still get emails from Chabad, a Hasidic branch of Orthodox Judaism.

Since the subject of the Septuagint has come up here on occasion, I thought of this forum when an article about that translation came up in my email feed today.

The main article:
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_ ... nt=content

Another that the first article links to in the text:
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_ ... -Greek.htm

I learned a fair bit of a historical perspective from the first article but as a linguist and Bible Translator, the 2nd was of particular interest to me.
Thoughts?

[MaxPC]

As I've mentioned before, I was a member on a Jewish forum for some time, before it closed down. So I still get emails from Chabad, a Hasidic branch of Orthodox Judaism.

Since the subject of the Septuagint has come up here on occasion, I thought of this forum when an article about that translation came up in my email feed today.

The main article:
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_ ... nt=content

Another that the first article links to in the text:
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_ ... -Greek.htm

I learned a fair bit of a historical perspective from the first article but as a linguist and Bible Translator, the 2nd was of particular interest to me.
Thoughts?

I appreciate your posting of these articles, Neto. No thoughts to add, but I do appreciate these articles.

[Franklin]

I learned a fair bit of a historical perspective from the first article but as a linguist and Bible Translator, the 2nd was of particular interest to me.

Do you know Hebrew and Greek? I think one would have to know both to have an opinion on this issue.

[Neto]

I learned a fair bit of a historical perspective from the first article but as a linguist and Bible Translator, the 2nd was of particular interest to me.

Do you know Hebrew and Greek? I think one would have to know both to have an opinion on this issue.

I studied Greek in Bible college, and used it in Bible translation work, but no, I do not know Hebrew. (Wish I did. There was an opportunity here in the area a year or so ago, but it was paper oriented, and I want to learn it as a listener.)
Some things I didn't know about the Greek translation was that there was an earlier one, that it was ordered by the Egyptian ruler, and that they made intentional changes to the text to avoid offending the Egyptians. Then there is the general issue as to whether any language can be faithfully translated. Last week we had a visit from a "back-water" Brazilian and his family, and one of the things we talked about was how some concepts are so tied to the culture which they represent, that it is very difficult to translate into another language. Like the other discussion about 'paganism', where there is the 'problem' of not being able to distinguish between the spiritual and the physical worlds, it is also difficult to answer the question of which is informing the other, language or culture. But my thinking is that this is a Western question, or 'dilemma'. I think that the two are so closely entwined with influence going both directions that it is difficult to make an argument that they are not the same entity. This is one of the very sad things about language loss. If such people are still connected to their culture, they find themselves unable to explain their thoughts, emotions, and responses. (Incidentally, that's another 'debate' in the linguistic world - or at least it was when I was studying it - as to whether a person can think w/o language. An atheist whom I know personally wrote a book about the beginning of language, but I have not had occasion to read it yet. It seems to me that this is a problem area for evolutionists, unless they assume that people didn't think at all until language developed. But how can language develop if you're not able to think? It seems to me that the only logical conclusion is some sort of intelligent designer behind it all, a creator.)