Analysis of Hebrew and Balanta Narrative Connectors

This study aims to analyze connector problems in Bible translation with a focus on Hebrew and Balanta narrative texts. This topic is important because connectors are a crucial issue in Bible translation, for their incorrect usage affects clause, sentence, or paragraph relationships, which causes the text to lose accuracy and naturalness in the target language, and this is becoming an area of increased concern in many translation projects in Guinea Bissau. The purpose of this study is to shed light on Bible translation particularly when dealing with Hebrew and Balanta narrative texts. The major concern here is to examine the mismatches in the meaning of the connectors in the source and the target languages, because when a translator does not understand the connectors’ functions in both languages, then s/he will not be able to express concepts in an accurate and natural way in the target language. The main objective is to analyze the major connectors in Hebrew and Balanta narratives and propose effective strategies that will assist translators to use them adequately when translating the Scripture from the source text into the target language.