Crowd sourcing a new translation of Mark (Import Bible Text into Accordance)

[mgvh]

Attached is chapter 1 of the Gospel of Mark in a translation that I've been working on. If anyone is interested in checking it out, I would be happy to hear responses and comments. The full title is:

Let the Hearer Understand: A Translation and Performance Guide for Hearing the Gospel of Mark

It will include a commentary on the translation and suggestions for how the text might be 'performed.' I pretty much have a whole first draft of all of Mark, but I'm working on the commentary and performance guide.

 

In the introductory chapter I explain my translation philosophy, but you should be able to discern some elements in this sample. Broadly speaking, I believe that the Gospel of Mark could almost be regarded as a transcription of an oral performance. My translation attempts to reflect the oral character of the Greek in the English. Most English versions try to smooth out Mark's Greek and render it in proper English grammar. My translation attends more closely to tense aspect, recognizes incomplete sentences, explanatory asides, etc. At points where I think the Greek would have sounded strange to Mark's audience, I hope a little strangeness comes across in the English. (This includes my rendering of Hebrew names which had to have sounded a bit exotic to a Greek speaker. Further, there are things like using "Jacobos" instead of "James" to point to the connection with "Jacob" of the OT.)

My translation is closer to the 'literal' end of things, and it will seem a bit clumsy and perhaps not greatly different from some other translations. But for full effect, my translation is meant to be heard, so consider reading it out loud and imagining how you would 'perform' it if telling this marvelous story to others.

The file attached is a TXT file. You can import it into Accordance and use Compare to see how it compares to your favorite versions.

To import it:

File > User Files > Import Bible Text

Find the file you have downloaded.

For a Bible name, I suggest LtHU (to match my book's title) and use "Let the Hearer Understand" for the full name of the text.

In other text information, you can use my name to keep track of its source: Mark G. Vitalis Hoffman (c) 2023 CrossMarks.com

Please don't distribute the text, but do feel free to cite it with attribution.

Thanks for any comments!

LtHU.Mark1.mgvh.txt