Catherine Brown wrote:I've noticed that it seems a common occurence that the greek
grammar is
incorrectly translated in Revelation. This is where my interest in the greek is. I've gathered a couple of opinions on these texts so far, no one is in agreement though, so this is why I came here
The Book of Revelations is not the best text to work on first, when you are a beginner learning Greek. While some people find the message that it conveys interesting, most people who know enough Greek grammar well enough to differentiate good Greek from bad, find the grammar of that Book "different" at least. Other apocalyptic literature - such as the Apocalyse of Peter, which I was looking at last month - doesn't have the same form of Greek, so the Greek of Revelations is not genre based. Perhaps it is more idiolectic.
When you are looking at the Book of Revelations, "incorrectly translated" as a viewpoint to work from is probably something that you are modify as you go on with your Greek learning. The "grammar" of Revelations is sometimes like a
pidgin where the grammar is simplified, consequently, the sense of what it is saying needs to be understood (including interpreted) and then rendered into standard English. That requires a different approach to translating....
Think for a moment about direct and indirect (reported) speech. For the sentece
M said, "I'm going to the shops now."
, which is direct speech, we would render that into indirect (reported) speech as
M said (that) she was going to the shops at that time.
But if Mary did not have good English, and said,
M said, "me go just shop shop"
and you understood her, then the "correct" form of the reported speech would be
M said that she was going to the shops at that time.
.
The same way that we go from the second type of direct speech to indirect (reported) speech, is the way that we "translate" the Book of Revelations. What if we didn't do that with what M had told us? If we tried to mimic M's way of speaking English when we told someone else what she had said she was going to do, something like
M said that her go just shop shop
. When we told others what Mary had said, they would probably interpret our attitude to M in a negative way, AND the language that we used would be a distraction from the message that we were trying to get across. M has the
right to speak the way that she does because she is just speaking the way that she does. If someone else as the one who reports her speech does that, the person has
made a conscious choice to alter English from the good English that they know they are capable of, to poor English which lies outside the generally accepted norms of the language.
Translation is similar in many ways to the way that form indirect (reported) speech from direct speech. One can read the Book of Revelations in the Greek that it was written in, because that is what it is. But one's translation is to English not into a mimicing pidgin something like English.
When dealing with the "translation" of the Book of Revelation, you need to include the
understanding step which lies between M said, "me go just shop shop" - M said, "I am going to the shops now" - M said that she was going to the shops when I met her. In fact, let me jump the gun and say that not agreeing with the translation of the Book of Revelation is often not agreeing with the interpretations. You will need a higher than beginner level of Greek to deal with the issues that you are proposing to deal with.
Good luck with your study.