Our Hebrew lecture yesterday involved going around the class one at a time and translating a verse out loud for the whole group. I didn't learn much because as I waited for my name to be called about three-quarters of the way around I just sat there mildly sweating, clammy hands, with a slightly increased heart-rate, dreading my turn. I was so nervous I ended up reading the wrong verse (which I was translating correctly) and I got even more flustered as the lecturer and others kept correcting me (on the translation of the verse I had missed) while I, ever confused, kept exploring the semantic range of the first word on the wrong line in the hope they would eventually agree. Once we got on the same line it was all good, but my nerves were shot.
However, as a positive I now know what it must be like for poor readers/ESL people when it gets announced in Bible study that 'everyone will read a paragraph as we go round the circle'. Time to panic!
I am very quickly losing confidence in Hebrew.
To make matters worse, I was getting discouraged as all these people before me were translating like they were reading the English and easily translating words that as far as I could tell I had never seen before in my life. I kept turning to my mate beside me and asking, 'Am I supposed to know that word? They all translate so quickly?' Eventually after the third time he had answered 'No, we've never seen it before', he added 'Look, they all have their software open'. You see, half the class had Bible language software on their computers in front of them anyway, quickly looking up words they didn't know and translating their line before they supposedly translated off the cuff. I too tried to have the passage in front of me on my Mac, but when it got to my turn I just decided to not try and fluff my knowledge.
And all the while we were perpetuating the myth that we were better than we were, and feeding to our poor lecturer that we knew more than we did. Stupid pride.
Well, before computers, in the theological college that St. Eutychus now attends, we used to use photocopied pages out of John Joseph Owens' Analytical Key To The Old Testament and read those out in Hebrew class.
ReplyDeleteSome of my more senior class-mates developed quite a skill with strategic pauses during 'translation' to create quite the impression that actual vocabulary and parsing were being recalled while they were reading.
Fortunately our college were committed to training pastors with practical skills in languages than biblical linguists.
LOL. There's nothing new under the sun.
ReplyDeleteI think the end result is aptitude in "fake it 'til you make it", which could also be seen as a practical ministry skill.
Fun aside, I think attaining whatever proficiency you can in languages is useful, because it helps develop a sounder grasp of the Scriptures and because it helps make usage of secondary material (commentaries and linguistic aids) more meaningful. This will be helpful when in parish life other factors push you toward these secondary materials. The better your training in languages the more likely they will remain tools and not substitutes.
ReplyDeleteI do think the Theological Education Industry Inc. can push the issue because it justifies their existence, but original language training does bring texture not just to preaching but to pastoral life.