Reports of my death were...exaggerated
Well, since we're all playing the "link game," if you haven't already, check out Japander. Its a site filled with Japanese commercials w/American celebrities in them. We all know how weird the Japanese can get (read: cultural differences and misinterpretations that result in hilarity). Specifically, check out their section on the Governator.
After watching some of these commercials, I am reminded of the scene in Lost in Translation where Bill Murray's character is filming a commercial in Japan. In that scene, the director says this long and contrived...thing...in Japanese and Bill Murray's translator person simply says, "He want you to turn and look in camera. Okay?" Whatever the director just said, no matter how magnificent, is simply reduced to 10 words.
This actually ties into a much larger issue. Sometimes I wonder if bigger, more important things than a commercial director's instructions are lost in translation. Can anybody imagine any major historical documents that have been translated into and through several languages? Yea, I can think of one: The Bible. It was originally written in whatever language it was originally in; then, translated to Greek; then, translated to Latin; then, to whatever language the vulgar masses were speaking at the time. Contrary to popular belief, I'm pretty sure biblical figures did not speak American Standard English (also, in case you didn't get the memo, Jesus wasn't white). In addition to being translated, it has been edited and manipulated over and over again for several thousand years. Yea, I'm pretty sure something was mixed up in the process.
So, lay off with the "THE BIBLE IS WORD FOR WORD THE TRUTH AND IS INFALLIBLE" nonesense. The writers of the Bible might have been channeling God, but the English translators could have been channeling King James for all you knew.
After watching some of these commercials, I am reminded of the scene in Lost in Translation where Bill Murray's character is filming a commercial in Japan. In that scene, the director says this long and contrived...thing...in Japanese and Bill Murray's translator person simply says, "He want you to turn and look in camera. Okay?" Whatever the director just said, no matter how magnificent, is simply reduced to 10 words.
This actually ties into a much larger issue. Sometimes I wonder if bigger, more important things than a commercial director's instructions are lost in translation. Can anybody imagine any major historical documents that have been translated into and through several languages? Yea, I can think of one: The Bible. It was originally written in whatever language it was originally in; then, translated to Greek; then, translated to Latin; then, to whatever language the vulgar masses were speaking at the time. Contrary to popular belief, I'm pretty sure biblical figures did not speak American Standard English (also, in case you didn't get the memo, Jesus wasn't white). In addition to being translated, it has been edited and manipulated over and over again for several thousand years. Yea, I'm pretty sure something was mixed up in the process.
So, lay off with the "THE BIBLE IS WORD FOR WORD THE TRUTH AND IS INFALLIBLE" nonesense. The writers of the Bible might have been channeling God, but the English translators could have been channeling King James for all you knew.
6 Comments:
you must bury your comment and perform the ritual cleansing on yourself! how dare you mispell the Torah!
By
Tony, at 2/21/2006 10:13 PM
and that wasn't a very happy post. repent and cleanse!
By
Tony, at 2/21/2006 10:14 PM
Interesting you mention the Bible. I looked into that myself as a Christian (liberal), and had some interesting conversations with more "religious" people who were adamant that the Bible was 100% error-free over the ages it's existed.
And yet, the sheer fact that the KJV bible exists...Unfortunately I can't bring up any specific examples (because i'm lazy, go look into it yourself), but when I last looked, it'd usually be specific words in a passage that would be different, significantly different such that the meaning changes. Then there are the so-called apocryphal books...
Ok, I just found one. "Lilith" in the Hebrew bible somehow changed into screech owl. WTF?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilith
By
Ron, at 2/21/2006 10:44 PM
where's the nude pictures??
By
Tony, at 2/21/2006 11:21 PM
I've been wanting to get the book, Misquoting Jesus by Bart Ehrman. Ehrman is the chair of the department of religious studies at UNC and was an evangelical Christian for quite a while. He focused his studies on different translations of the Bible and discovered a plethora of inconsistencies and errors. Ehrman noted that many early versions of the Bible have a totally different take on Jesus, including the opinion that he was more mad than nice. Many major and minor changes in the Bible can be attributed to ecumenical politics. So when you watch Dogma and hear Chris Rock say it was a conspiracy that left Jesus's teenage life out of the Bible, it might be true.
By
David, at 2/22/2006 2:14 PM
yeah, i mean, Jesus was supposed to be God's son. Three kings stopped by to give him gifts as a newborn, and he was conceived by a virgin, and Mary was visited by an angel to announce his coming. Why does the Bible make out Mary and Joseph to be all surprised when Jesus is lecturing the Jewish priests and performing miracles? IIRC, Joseph wants Jesus to grow up to be a carpenter, but doesn't he already know he's the son of God?
By
Tony, at 2/22/2006 7:02 PM
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