Recently, due to an odd sequence of events, I found myself in possession of a new acquaintance – a friend of a friend. We got to talking about Bible translation issues and problems in depth.
I discovered he was extremely knowledgeable about biblical Greek and had worked on translations before, so eventually I [jokingly] said, “Nice, when does your translation come out?”
He answered: “Tomorrow.” I thought he was joking too, but he wasn’t. He and his dad were literally publishing their finished New Testament the next day, the work of years (more on this later).
It just happened to be Christmas when he said that, and our family spent the evening with some friends. I just happened to mention this, and the wife says, “No way, I have a copy of that in my car!”
And yes, she actually did, and I got to keep it. I had a fun time taking a picture and sending it to my new acquaintance, who was quite puzzled how I was able to get it the same day as we started talking about it, and the day before he published the finished version!
I won’t share the entire story, but as it turned out I now had a physical copy of the GHT, or “Garth’s Hyper-literal Translation”. Here is an excerpt from the translator, Mr. Wiebe of Maynard, which encapsulates the idea behind his translation:
Many have endeavored to produce an English translation that is “faithful to the original Greek text.” In reality, they have all produced translations that are faithful to the English at the expense of the Greek, focusing on how to translate into the best English possible, with the tradeoff being how literal, or at least faithful, to the original Greek they can still remain after doing so. Yet there is and can be no such thing as a “literal, word for word” translation. The set of words in each language do not have a one to one correspondence to each other, nor does the grammar, nor do the composition and style rules map. My translation will not accomplish such an impossible feat either, nor even to my own satisfaction, but it will take the additional step of being much more faithful to the Greek, sacrificing proper English grammar, punctuation, composition, and style, bringing out every word, nearly every grammatical construct, and every meaningful subtlety in the original text, only endeavoring to still keep the text readable and understandable in English. And that is the goal of what I am calling “Garth’s Hyper-literal Translation,” which I will abbreviate “GHT.” It is not like any translation you have seen before. I focus on how they said it, rather than how we would say it. As much as possible, I avoid interpretation (“it says that but means this”) but instead say what it says the way it says it. Where others have fallen short due to an English language mindset, which they impose upon the Greek, I have much more closely followed the sense and flow of the Greek language. That is why it is so very awkward in English. It will take some getting used to, to read it this way. But if you don’t know the Greek, this will get you the closest to it, and those who do know Greek may question the virtue of being so “hyper-literal,” yet they will have to acknowledge that it brutally accomplishes that objective.
I was instantly smitten. I’m unskilled even in English grammar, but often curious about translations – how they can be so different, and what goes on behind the scenes. Why this word here? Why neuter this pronoun? The GHT helps even me, a Greek beginner, to understand a bit more about the complexity, and get a little closer to understanding a foreign language. I can even sound out words like a five-year-old now.
My new acquaintance, Mr. Wiebe’s son, has put extensive work into coding a website version of the GHT. The coding is a real work of art in terms of database design, speed, and powerful search features in Greek or English. With his permission, I wanted to make his site look “better” or more usable, at least for my tastes. He generously helped me break his code so I could move things around. I had one or two ideas that he liked and incorporated into his version.
Anyway, I have completed a version I consider usable. Enjoy, and let me know what you think. I’ve found a lot of enjoyment reading this clunky, beautiful translation.
One more thing: The entire project is in the public domain – that means no copyright. It’s entirely free to copy, both the code for the original website AND the translation! Here is a link to the repository if you are interested in making your own clone!
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