Modern Young's Literal Translation

Jake · #1 (**permalink**) 06-22-2009, 04:02 PM

I just got the Modern Young's Literal Translation of New Testament and Psalms and Proverbs (rest of the Bible isn't out yet). Here is the amazon link:

Amazon

Robert Truelove · #2 (**permalink**) 06-23-2009, 09:57 AM

I had not heard of this.

My only question is...what was not 'modern' about the original Young's Literal Translation?

Jake · #3 (**permalink**) 06-23-2009, 01:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robert Truelove

I had not heard of this.

My only question is...what was not 'modern' about the original Young's Literal Translation?

The pronoun usage for one thing. Thees, Thous, and such were used. This is not a big deal to me, but I appreciate it. Also, the sentence order that Young used was sometimes unintelligible in English because it was unchanged from the original Greek and Hebrew. This included things that were easy to change without changing meaning such as adjectives before nouns where it is not normally the case in English. I believe some vocabulary is changed for synonymous words as well where the word used is no longer used.

VilnaGaon · #4 (**permalink**) 06-26-2009, 08:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jake

I just got the Modern Young's Literal Translation of New Testament and Psalms and Proverbs (rest of the Bible isn't out yet). Here is the amazon link:

Amazon.com: Modern Young's Literal Translation New Testament: Allen Keith LeClaire, Robert Young: Books

And more information is here: Modern Young's Literal Translation of the Bible™

Has anyone seen this, or the Young's Literal Translation? I have used YLT on the computer as a comparison before as it is a very literal translation and it is translated from Masoretic/TR (for better or worse). However, the wording was often impossible to make out without another translation beside it.

I just read through the first few chapters of Matthew, and some memorable chapters and verses throughout. I really like this translation for its literalness (sometimes it's different enough from less literal translations like ESV, NASB, NKJV to give a new perspective) and it is much more readable than the old YLT with some help of different word orders and non-archaic words (which aren't a huge deal to me, but I don't like to think about that aspect when I am reading the Bible). One unique thing is that you and your are denoted with a superscripted P or S for plural and singular respectively.

Unfortunately, as I expected being a paperback, this copy is not that great and may not hold up to much use.

I bought the edition of the original YLT from the same publishers. I was displeased with the number of typos in the text. Is that the case with this edition?

Robert Truelove · #5 (**permalink**) 06-28-2009, 07:48 AM

Unless they use some sort of convention to designate the difference between second person singular and second person plural, the removal of Thee, Thou, Thy, Thine, You & Ye will result in a much less literal translation.

I've seen some commentaries designate this matter in modern English by adding spaces to "you" (making it "y o u") where the Greek and Hebrew is referring to second person plural (or it may be the other way around, I can't remember). I hope the modern YLT does something similar.

I think as far as the other changes goes, I'd rather have the original. I like the fact that the YLT has the words in the same order as the original Greek and Hebrew. I've never consulted the YLT for its readability (who would?) but for its exacting attempt at being a literal translation. As such, I see it more as a reference tool, not an 'everyday' Bible.

Having said that, I hope the modern edition appears on the Internet so I can give it a look.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jake

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robert Truelove

I had not heard of this.

My only question is...what was not 'modern' about the original Young's Literal Translation?

The pronoun usage for one thing. Thees, Thous, and such were used. This is not a big deal to me, but I appreciate it. Also, the sentence order that Young used was sometimes unintelligible in English because it was unchanged from the original Greek and Hebrew. This included things that were easy to change without changing meaning such as adjectives before nouns where it is not normally the case in English. I believe some vocabulary is changed for synonymous words as well where the word used is no longer used.

Jake · #6 (**permalink**) 06-28-2009, 08:09 AM

The Modern Young's Literal translation is available online here: MODERN YOUNG'S LITERAL TRANSLATION™ - Index

The online version does not have the distinction between plural and singular you, which is the farthest level of distinction that this translation has. However, the word order needs to be changed just a bit sometimes I think. As I said, with the original YLT there are some places I cannot get without comparing it to another translation, which I don't have as much of an issue with the MYLT.

The only problem I have seen with this version is that the top heading that tells the current book and reference has I Peter for II Peter and I Corinthians for II Corinthians on every page. I have not encountered any errors in the text.

kalawine · #7 (**permalink**) 06-28-2009, 09:40 AM

I love the old one. Gotta have this one too!