Quote:
Originally Posted by DaleDe
What they meant was one thing that can be debated. However, it a translation supposed to make that call? Or is it up to the reader? That itself is another debate but when someone says which is closest to the original then the answer is fairly clear. The words can not just be changed. the entire sentence has to be rewritten which itself might change the meaning in another part.
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You get into trouble also when you don't rewrite euphemisms in your translation. Certain male body parts are never mentioned, for example, but the euphemism for them are there (and the literal translations of them leave you wondering just what on earth they are trying to say).
Any translation also can fall down when the context of the day is removed. Betrothal, for example, was not (entirely) a virginal promise period, it was the same as marriage, just without the rabbi/govt official. Engaged couples often lived together for up to two years while waiting for the opportunity to be "married" (either by traveling themselves or by a traveling man of god), so it was not at all unusual for children to be born during that period or for pregnant, unmarried women to travel with a fiance to be married and counted for taxes.