Hebrew to English Translation

I’m not an expert in translation theory, but experience has taught me a couple of things. First of all, a mastery of both source and target languages is the fundamental prerequisite for the work of translation. By mastery, I mean the ability to engage in simultaneous translation from one language to the other, unaided by a dictionary.

The mechanisms by which this skill level is attained are various. Mastery of a modern language usually requires full immersion of 8 to 16 months. Or bilingualism may be accomplished in fits and spurts, as in the case of my children, whose mother tongue (literally) is Italian, but whose primary language outside of the home is English. Their Italian is latent most of the time, but comes out fine and continues to improve in an Italian-only environment, as when in Italy with cugini e amici.

In the case of an ancient language, a degree of bilingualism can be attained and should be attempted. Trained in the old school, I did all the English-to-Hebrew exercises in Jacob Weingreen’s Classical Hebrew Composition (Oxford: Clarendon, 1966 [1959]) under the tutelage of Menahem Mansoor. Those of us who did this sweat bullets along the way, but I know of no better way to attain bilingualism than by moving from source to target language and back again. Want to get good at translating from Hebrew to English? Learn to translate from English to Hebrew. 

The other way was listening to audio tapes of portions of the Tanakh until I got to the point where I could understand what was being said both word-for-word and in terms of Gestalt perception, such that I could translate from the tape simultaneously. It is also an excellent way to memorize Scripture. Thanks to Gary Martin of the  Academy of Ancient Languages, anyone may do this today from the comfort of their home. Go here. 

Mansoor liked to tell his students the story of an atheist he knew in Israel who knew all the psalms by heart. It was an effective way of needling pious Christians into doing likewise. He gave me a pocket edition of the Psalms in Hebrew as a gift, and clearly expected me to memorize as many of the Psalms as I could. He also liked to tell us the story (perhaps apocryphal) of the first students of divinity at Yale (or was it Harvard?) who were required to memorize Psalm 23 in Hebrew so that, if and when they made it to heaven, they could chime in with the angels.

More here.

Comments

[Simon Holloway]

I must thank you for that wonderful link! I had been looking for this very thing for the longest time: an opportunity to listen to Tanakh on my iPod (my חי־פוד, as I call it). Thankyou!

[The Mad Hungarian]

Talking of Weingreen’s "Classical Hebrew Composition", does anyone know where answers for it might be found? I don't have teachers or collaborators available to work with here, and posting answers off into the void isn't terribly helpful.

[JohnFH]

If you send them this way, I'll correct them for you. But you will need to send me text in both languages, since I no longer own a copy of the volume in question. For my email, go under "about."

[Sundey]

Hi i know that this has nothing to with poetry but i would love to know how to translate in hebrew writing " I love my parents." thank you so much!

[Hebrew Scholar]

I couldn't agree more with this excellent post. Memorizing the Hebrew text is an amazing way to learn it. You will see connections between words and passages that you just won't see otherwise. And (at least trying) to learn Hebrew properly and be bilingual will give you far, far more helpful insights into the Hebrew text than any number of academic grammars. You need to get *inside* the language to understand the text. So what if it takes 8 to 16 months of study? If you start when you are 18, by 20 you'll be fluent enough. Start when you are 60, and by 62 you'll be fluent enough, then have 20+ years to enjoy the Hebrew Bible fully!