New Believers Bible - Flipbook - Page 130
introduction to the
NEW LIVING TRANSLATION
Translation Philosophy and Methodology. glish Bible translations tend to be
governed by one of two general translation theories. The first theory has been
called “formal-equivalence,” “literal,” or “word-for-word” translation. According to
this theory, the translator attempts to render each word of the original language into
English and seeks to preserve the original syntax and sentence structure as much as
possible in translation. The second theory has been called “dynamic-equivalence,”
“functional-equivalence,” or “thought-for-thought” translation. The goal of this
translation theory is to produce in English the closest natural equivalent of the
message expressed by the original-language text, both in meaning and in style.
Both of these translation theories have their strengths. A formal-equivalence
translation preserves aspects of the original text—including ancient idioms, term
consistency, and original-language syntax—that are valuable for scholars and professional study. It allows a reader to trace formal elements of the original-language text
through the English translation. A dynamic-equivalence translation, on the other
hand, focuses on translating the message of the original-language text. It ensures
that the meaning of the text is readily apparent to the contemporary reader. This
allows the message to come through with immediacy, without requiring the reader to
struggle with foreign idioms and awkward syntax. It also facilitates serious study of
the text’s message and clarity in both devotional and public reading.
The pure application of either of these translation philosophies would create
translations at opposite ends of the translation spectrum. But in reality, all translations contain a mixture of these two philosophies. A purely formal-equivalence
translation would be unintelligible in English, and a purely dynamic-equivalence
translation would risk being unfaithful to the original. That is why translations
shaped by dynamic-equivalence theory are usually quite literal when the original
text is relatively clear, and the translations shaped by formal-equivalence theory are
sometimes quite dynamic when the original text is obscure.
The translators of the New Living Translation set out to render the message of the
original texts of Scripture into clear, contemporary English. As they did so, they kept
