Enene Naaman Enene is a Bible Translation Consultant with Luke Initiative for Scripture Translation, Nigeria, and also the National Director of the organization. He has been involved in Bible Translation for the past 24 years. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Master of Arts degree in Linguistics and attended the Jerusalem Center for Bible Translators.
Translating Biblical Key Terms in Obolo
Abstract
The Obolo translators are not exceptions in the difficulties translators often face in the translation of Biblical key terms. These terms are words that refer to Jewish and Christian beliefs and religious systems and may have been unknown in the receptor language area before the introduction of Christianity. Though cultural similarities may exist, these terms constitute most serious problems for translators and have produced misunderstanding among readers when the translation does not communicate accurately the meaning of the term in the source language. This paper tries to review some of them and how the Obolo translators have handled them.
A good knowledge of the Obolo culture has helped to reduce some of the difficulties that the translators would have encountered in the course of translating the Bible. The traditional religion has also been a good source for some of the biblical key terms. In this paper, we shall discuss some ways of translating Biblical key terms in order not to communicate wrong meaning or to create different impact or to sound foreign. The intended outcome of this paper is that translators would be able to explore some more ways of translating Biblical key terms with ease.
This paper closes with some ways that encourage translators that though the choice of Biblical key terms is something that many translators struggle with and some people feel very strongly about, decisions can be made by careful consultation with church leaders and others.