UkrainianBible:About
From UkrainianBible
HOW BIBLE PROOFREADING WORKS:
You may think that proofreading a translation is a simple matter. In fact it is almost as much work as translating it in the first place, especially for someone like myself who didn't even learn the Ukrainian language until I was 42.
I learned the language by studying grammar books, living in Ukraine, conversing, teaching English and four other languages while speaking Ukrainian, and reading their Bible all the way through, every book in one to five translations including one so old it uses a different alphabet. Reading a foreign Bible involves looking up and writing down the meanings of every word I didn't know. During this process I discovered that practically every chapter contains one or more words that I can't find in any of my 12 dictionaries. This shows the need for a new translation--even Ukrainians can't understand their own Bibles.
To translate the Old Testament, first I prepare a book such as Genesis by reading it through in Hebrew, looking up and writing down every unfamiliar word and form. In the beginning, this meant every other word! (By now it's only every fifth.) The Hebrew language is so complex that you need an 800-page two-column book of small print just as an index to the dictionary! It was certainly within God's providence that, as knowledgeable Lutherans like Prof. Herman Sasse have written, the college and seminary I graduated from have the finest program of Biblical languages that Lutherans have in the Western Hemisphere with a reputation that stretches all the way to Germany.
When the translators are done, they send me their printout which I read through to look up and write down any unfamiliar words. I don't like to have to consult reference books while proofreading. I want to KNOW the material so as to take the material verse by verse, not just word by word.
By this time it should be a simple matter of comparing the Hebrew of Genesis to the new Ukrainian translation. It still isn't. If there is the slightest question, I will consult the ancient Greek translation from 200 years before Christ, the Latin translation from the fourth century after Christ, and sometimes even look at how Luther translated. (Most scholars will acknowledge that Luther was the finest Bible translator in history.) They were all centuries closer to the original language than we are and their contributions are absolutely essential to our accuracy.
Dictionaries and computer Bible programs are also not enough. I consult at least three commentaries for the things the dictionaries might have missed, and I use different dictionaries and commentaries from my colleagues for the widest possible word choice.
By one of those little coincidences that God so often helps me with, I found a packet of plastic paper clips in the form of an arrowhead. These are ideal for my work. I put an arrowhead above each word of the original, and as I slide it from word to word, underline the Ukrainian words that reflect the Hebrew. By the end of each verse, the entire translation must be underlined, and there must be no Hebrew words left untranslated unless it's something that can only be expressed by your tone of voice. Questions and suggestions are written in green pencil; objections are in red.
It is a big advantage to the team to have one member whose primary language is English because all important theology is either written in or translated into English. I am likelier to be aware of most of the hot-button issues that affect translation today. I also bring a much wider denominational balance to the team than they had before. Since we are all striving for a neutral translation that favors no denomination, this is important to everyone. And I am American--when the Ukrainians translated that a wife should "fear" her husband, a thought which they are used to from their wedding liturgy, I immediately objected (and proved) that the original word must be translated "respect."
I also compare the final translation with an English version just to double-check my own accuracy. If there is a significant difference anywhere, I'll look back at the original languages to find out why.
Before submitting my comments, I double-check them; then the original translators consider every suggestion carefully; and before they send the work to the Ukrainian proofreader (just to make sure there are no mis-spelled words, wrong punctuation, important words like "not" left out of Commandments and so forth, as happened once in what was called "the Wicked Bible"--you can Google it), we have a meeting in which we discuss every comment I made. I am not always right, because sometimes they have very strong reasons for the way they translated, but I always leave our meetings satisfied that this will be THE Ukrainian Bible of the 21st Century.
