SOME DIFFICULTIES IN PUBLISHING

A word here in regard to some of the difficulties which were to be met in this work of translating the truth into foreign tongues. These difficulties are not found to be less as we come to the task of translating our more important doctrinal works into the various languages, and it is proper that our people should know the labor and pains which are required in doing this work, in order that they may not misjudge the slow progress that seems to be made in this direction.HSFM 24.4

The principal publications in favor of the doctrines of the Seventh-day Adventists have been issued in the English language. These have been prepared with great care, and are theHSFM 24.5

[Illustration] Basle as seen from the Old Bridge result of long study and research. It is hardly to be supposed that these important truths would be more faithfully presented by any re-writing, since they are the product of the best thought and most thorough study of men who have been longest connected with this work. Certainly it is not to be supposed that men in each of these foreign countries who receive the truth at a much later date, and who are largely unacquainted with the early history of this movement and the experience which has developed this system of truth during these years since the message originated, would be likely to write out the arguments in its favor with greater clearness and force, or in a more logical manner, than that in which they are presented in our English publications. For this reason it will doubtless be the case that the work of preparing the truth in foreign tongues will ever be quite largely one of translation from the English.

At first thought it might seem that this would be a comparatively easy task; but experience has proved it to be quite otherwise. To be a good translator requires not only an aptitude of expression and a use of language which enables one to retain thoroughly the spirit of his own tongue while transferring the thought from another language, but, what is not less essential, a thorough knowledge of the language from which the translation is being made, as well as a thorough acquaintance with the truth and an understanding of its principles. It is rarely that all these requisite elements are to be found. Sometimes the translator, in his study of the foreign language, in a measure forgets the idiom of his own tongue, so that his translation becomes clearly marked with the characteristics of the language from which he is translating. Then, again, if he has not sufficient familiarity with the tongue from which he translates, there is great danger that this lack of knowledge will lead to serious misapprehensions of the idea, so that important thoughts in the original will be overlooked or modified. Especially is this true in translating from the English, a language which has such infinite variety in its shades of meaning, and which, from its richness and abundance in variety and form of expression, is quite likely to be misapprehended by those who have but a partial acquaintance with it.HSFM 26.1

But supposing the translator has the peculiar qualifications and talent necessary to make him a master in his work, he still finds himself confronted by many serious and perplexing obstacles. Sometimes whole paragraphs of arguments, forcible and convincing in the English, are based upon shades of distinction not found in the foreign tongue. The deviations from the evident meaning of the original, in many of the popular versions of the Scriptures in these foreign languages, are such that frequently those texts which are relied upon as furnishing important and positive proof may not be adduced in evidence-so faulty and erroneous is their rendering. In some instances it is necessary to show the incorrectness of the renderings; but this is a delicate task, so tenacious are the people for the very language of the Bible of their fathers to which they have become accustomed.HSFM 26.2

For example, the German Bible, as translated by Luther, uniformly reads “Sabbath,” instead of “first day of the week;” and although all scholars understand very well that the staunch old Reformer gave an erroneous rendering of these passages, the common people regard with an almost superstitious veneration the very language he used.HSFM 26.3

Some of the popular French versions make the Revelator declare that he was in the Spirit on Sunday; and even those who know how utterly unjustifiable is such a rendering according to the original, are not slow to cite this proof of apostolic example in favor of traditional custom, while the unlearned Christian really supposes it to be inspired testimony in favor of first-day sacredness.HSFM 27.1

The authorities cited in our English publications are either English or English translations of authors who wrote originally in other languages. Many of the English authors, and in particular American writers, are entirely unknown to the common European reader; to quote their language would have no more weight than to cite the opinion of any other unknown person, and would serve only to give the publication a decidedly foreign air. Quotations from the English editions of French and German authors, cannot be translated, but must be found and quoted from the original, or from such other translations as exist in the language in which the work is being prepared. Other foreign writers, as, for example, the Church Fathers, Josephus, and other ancient authors, whose works have been translated into French and German, must be quoted from these translations rather than retranslated from the English. All these things demand such care, precision, and discrimination as makes the work a laborious and perplexing one, requiring much more time and patience than would be at first supposed.HSFM 27.2

The peculiar organization of Eld. Andrews rendered this kind of work especially perplexing to him. His thorough acquaintance with the truth, and his critical study of its arguments; his conscientious anxiety that entire justice should be rendered to the great doctrines of the message as they were thus reproduced in other tongues, made the work one of great solicitude to him, while at the same time he was most earnestly desirous that it should go forward as fast as possible. It is worthy of remark that even these early publications have stood the test of criticism and have rendered good service in the work, although without doubt they have been improved by later revision.HSFM 27.3