(originally posted at wycliffe.ca on 2016-08-09)
Jeff writes: I'm checking a translation of Leviticus in an Asian highland language this month. My first observation is that Leviticus is much easier to check than it is to read! I'm finding the content much more engaging than I seem to remember.
Maybe it's that I'm checking it in an Asian highland language, and Asian highland people have a history of sacrifices and offerings on altars. Nowadays they still offer various kinds of grain offerings and they burn incense and light candles. They've got ceremonial trumpets they'll blow in the monasteries too. In the past, at least in some areas, they would sacrifice animals. Sounds a lot like the Old Testament. It's really handy that they've got all these words and ideas already available to be used in translation!
In these ways, their culture is much more like the ancient Hebrews than my culture is. Asian highland people have told me they really enjoy the stories of Abraham and the patriarchs in Genesis, because they can relate to the nomadic lifestyle - living in tents and moving around a lot with their flocks and herds. I can imagine those things; they don't have to imagine, because many of them are still living that lifestyle today. The language used to describe those things in the translation I’m checking just seems so natural. I find it easier to take it all in in their language than in English, I guess because the cultural distance is less. The ideas seem to fit their language better than they fit mine.
What do you think? Do you have any reflections to share on cultural distance related to the Bible?
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