Japanese NT First Draft Finished

For those who have shown interest in our new Japanese NT translation from the TR, I have finished the first draft. In the translation process I have learned much Bible, translation theory, linguistics, and Japanese grammar, syntax and vocabulary. What a blessing and privilege!

So to celebrate, I took my wife out to eat last night at "Five Star," an all-you-can-eat restaurant where you barbecue your meat on a grill in the middle of the table. Scrumptious! The "five stars" are: Korean barbecue, Japanese (love that salmon sushi), western, Chinese, noodles (ramen). There are also dessert and salad bars (both rare in Japan).

Also, week before last the revision committee finished revising half of the NT, including John, Matthew, Romans, Revelation, Acts. My partners are "Uncle Miya," a retired English teacher who is an excellent Japanese and English linguist, and Frank now retired from Japan and doing furlough replacement ministry. Uncle Miya's chops included being the final editor on the English translation of a famous Japanese novel, Shiokari Pass by Ayako Miura. Frank was a US Air Force linguist, a Russian analyst who flew out of Viet Nam as well as out of Turkey monitoring Russian fighter pilots.

We still have much to do, including trial versions of John and Romans (after they have been corrected by my editors), finishing the second draft, adding corrections from the editors to the rest of the NT, etc. Editors include two Japanese pastors, a missionary, a Japanese layman and my son Paul, currently working on his Ph. D. in NT Greek linguistics at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

 

Thanks!

Squat restaurants? Not fun! Most restaurants in Japan nowadays have chairs, as does Five Star. Some have both chairs and tatami mat sections, but we usually try to get the chairs. The old knees aren't what they used to be.

Not likely to happen. Sorry! :saint:

 

I found Romans to be the hardest by far because of Paul's complicated syntax. He can go on with clause after clause all in one sentence. Japanese has difficulty with that kind of syntax, since it has a very regular grammar, with the main verb always coming at the end of the sentence for example. Also, Japanese has no infinitives or participles. So verb transformations from Paul's writings, esp. Romans, can be difficult.

Some translators consider Revelation to be difficult, but I treated it as a normal narrative and enjoyed it. However, when we went to revise it, that was a different story! Japan doesn't have much of a tradition of prophecy of any kind, though Shinto has various forms of fortune telling. :type:

 

Thanks, brother! :wavey:

 

Thanks, Mexdeaf and franklinmonroe! :wavey:

 

Thanks, folks! God is good. :wavey:

In our revision committee also we've reached a milestone. We finished revising half of the NT. I wanted to take Frank and Uncle Miya out, but Uncle Miya never goes out for a number of personal reasons. So when they got to the church Friday I had Starbucks Frappacinos waiting for them. (The expresso machine was broken down or I might have gotten lattes. The young lady was so apologetic!)

It was the first ever Starbucks for Uncle Miya. He chose the plain coffee one, took a taste and said, "It's a sherbet, right?" :smilewinkgrin:

 

Thanks brother!

 

Thank you, brother! :wavey:

Sorry, I don't remember any separation between us. I have no uneasy memories of you on the Baptist Board or elsewhere. If I need to apologize for something, please send me a PM (Private Message).