Translation and other interesting things

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About the Bible, the money, the kids and the adults

An original research work by Susana de la Paz, Lilibeth Ruelas, Alison Steinmetz, Leo Fregoso

TRST 301

Introduction

When tackling translations such as the Bible, a world-renowned work, numerous translations and variants, such as a kid’s and adult’s version, are created in order to accommodate the target culture for whichever target group a specific version of the Bible is required. However, with countless translations and variants, translators often negotiate whether they will be compensated by page by page or word for word therefore it is ultimately difficult to distinguish which way results in a higher compensation especially across variants, such as an adult and a kid’s version of the Bible.

Using the Bible as an example, the purpose of the experiment is to find and compare the

word count between the kid’s and adult’s versions. In analyzing both versions of the Bible the

question is, “Will there be a difference in words between the kid’s and adult’s version of the

Bible?”. By tackling this question, it will help determine which variant will result in a higher

compensation. This is important since usually translations stemming from written works tend to

be handled by freelancers and most of these translators always negotiate prices, deadlines, and

recognition for their livelihoods. Therefore, this study, in determining whichever

variant has the most words, will allow a freelance translator to wisely consider choosing their

next translations revolving around the variant with the most words.

To reiterate, the research objective of this study is to find and compare the word count between the kid’s and adult’s version of the Bible. With this research objective, the study addresses which variant would be best for freelance translators to work with given the translator works with a word-by-word basis. Especially since freelance translators rely on negotiations with their client in order to have a mutual agreement in terms of compensation, deadlines, and recognition. The prediction for this observation is expected to be that the adult’s version of the Bible will contain more words than the kid’s version. The rationale for this prediction is that, in translating the Bible’s complex words from the adult’s version; simplistic word choices will be made by the translator in order to ensure that the target group/reader will have a superior understanding of the meaning of the Bible through these simplistic word choices.

Literature review

As David A. Croteau notes in his book, “Which Bible Should I Use”, “Translation is a tricky business, particularly when it comes to translating ancient texts in varying languages in order to make them relevant to the culture and at the same time true to the text.” (Croteau, 2012). In the case of these translations, the translator must integrate the culture and message of bible verses into a child friendly creation, which can be difficult, as children may have difficulty understanding concepts presented in the bible, such as murder or adultery. In creating a child friendly interlingual translation, two main scenarios are possible: first, the words may vary in comparison to an adult translation, as a children’s bible may need more words to convey some stories; second, an adult version of the bible can also be longer, as it does not need the simple vocabulary a children’s bible may present. Klaus Reichert says it best in the article, “To translate texts that have been declared holy is one thing, to translate profane texts another. In the first case, one regards oneself as obligated to both the spirit and the letter of the text, even if this transplantation into another cultural realm necessarily results in something else”. What that means in regards to our article is that translators are obligated to the spirit in this holy text, even in the cases where changing it to fit another target audience, such as children, results in the translation not being word for word. This evidence helps us find the foundation in our research, as the bible can change in order to fit not just an equivalent spirit in another culture, but also a different target audience.

Research Objectives & Rationale of Study

While observing various bible verses, we noticed a contrast in the continents of a

children’s edition of the bible compared to a standard adult edition of the bible. Our

focus during these observations was “Will there be a difference in words between the kid and

adult version of the Bible?”. As translators, primarily freelance translators, we must negotiate prices

based on the number of words included in the text. Through this study, we can conclude if

various versions of the text contain a higher word count, therefore helping us conclude which

would provide a higher compensation for a freelance translator. This observation is approached

by the number of words distributed in the different variations of the bible. As mentioned, in relation to the number of words, versions may vary depending on the language used in each text (i.e., the complexity of each text); we thought that different (confusing) alternatives might be possible: a children’s edition would contain fewer complex words to make it legible for children, as well as longer explanations to provide context for children to make it manageable to understand. Moreover, an adult’s edition might be straightforward yet more elaborate, as the language is tailored towards an adult audience. Through a comparison observation, we can determine if a children’s edition or an adult edition contain a disparity in regards to word count. Our hypothesis in regards to this question was “Yes there will be a difference in the number of words between the kid’s and adult’s version of the Bible". We decided, finally, to opt for the prediction that “We think adults will have more words than kids’ versions because kids need a simplified vocabulary.”

Methodology

As a group we wanted to research and compare an intralingual translation. This is

because we all study different languages. The only language we all knew was English so we

decided it was best to observe an intralingual translation. We then compared an adult and

children’s version of the Bible. We compared three randomly chosen bible verses with one

“child” translation for each from translator David Croteau. We then took note of the amount of

words in each bible verse and thus compared the two versions. As a group we also discussed the

intralingual translation itself by analyzing the choices the translator made to make the text more

children friendly.

Findings

Our group found that 66% of the translated bible verses for children had more words than

the verses translated for adults. We found that the translator in fact wrote more words for the children’s translation rather than the original adult version. The original (source) version, also referred to as the adult version, had more words around 33% of the time. Whereas, the (target) children’s version had more words around 66% of the time.

Discussion

Our first comparison, in which we used the verse of Proverbs 5, the original text had 88 words while the translation had 91 words. This observation is not in line with our hypothesis based on the idea that the translation for children would have less words. An example from the Proverbs 5 original text is, “For the lips of the adulterous woman drip honey” and the translation is, “The words of another man’s wife may seem sweet as honey” (Croteau, Proverbs 5). This example shows how instead of lessening the words the translator instead breaks down big words to simplify, thus adding more words to the verse. Similarly, through our second comparison using the verse of Salms 23, the source text had 64 words; meanwhile the target text had 69 words. This observation shows similar results with comparison #1. This observation is not in line with our initial hypothesis which we thought the children’s version would have less words than the original text. An example from this verse’s original text is, “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing” and the translation is, “The Lord is my shepherd. I have everything I need” (Croteau, Psalms 23). As a group, we observed that the translator recognized that children would not be able to comprehend the word, “lack” so they replaced it with explaining, “I have everything I need”. This results in more words added to the children’s version. Surprisingly, through our third comparison, we observed that the “adult” version of the bible verse, Genesis 1, had more words than the translated children’s version of the verse. The original text had 82 words and the translation had 75 words. An example of why this happened can be shown with a part of the verse itself. The original text states, “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the water” and the translation states, “The earth was empty and had no form. Darkness covered the ocean, and God’s Spirit was moving over the water” (Croteau, Genesis 1). This comparison was in line with what we predicted! Having to simplify the original text meant less words in the kids version of the verse. Taking all of this into account, we found that ⅔ bible verses considered showed that our initial hypothesis was not supported.

Our group thought the translated version for children would have lesser words and this

was proven otherwise as stated before. We can see this result happening feasibly because children need a break down of the larger words used in the original version of the Bible. Being sensitive and aware of children’s reading abilities as a translator is so important. A translator should be aware of what children are capable of understanding in order to translate it accurately for a child. This result our group found was because of more basic level words in the translation to take the place of the larger descriptive words in the original.

Implication of Study

Our finding is, in fact, applicable to the translation market because it gives translators an idea of what market is more profitable. A translator might consider working on children’s content instead of working on adults' content to increase profit derived from a word-by-word invoiced translation of the Bible (i.e., interlingual translation from one source children's edition to a target one).

Suggestion to Study

Although our study did not fully support our prediction, further research could lead to a different result. Therefore, we could suggest new research on more Bible verses in both versions of the Bible, the children’s version and the adult’s version. By doing more extensive research, could lead to a different result. A new research could find if we just used a too much reduced number of bible verses to test our predictions. Our analysis only used three Bibles’ verses. The analysis of all verses will definitely be more accurate to provide a definitive and more precise conclusion. Another possible suggestion is to study the patterns in children’s literature. How does it compare to adult literature? What kind of kid’s literature has more words than adult literature? This study could help translators know on which children’s fields translators will earn a higher salary due to the higher volume of words. This specific study would help future translators that want to specialize in children's content choose the field that would be the most profitable for them.

Conclusion

After experimenting using bible verses for both children and adults and analyzing other

research papers, we concluded that our study did not fully support our prediction of adult

bibles containing more words. Our finding showed that the adult’s bible version had more words

than the children’s bible version. Our group found out that not always simplified vocabulary

means fewer words. For this reason, we also conclude that freelance translators working on the

literature children’s field would have higher monetary compensation than translators working on

the literature adult’s field.