New World Translation (2013 revision) in additional languages

[Jennifer H]

Does anyone know or have heard when the 2013 NWT Bible will be released in Spanish? 

[pnutts]

1 hour ago, Jennifer H said:

Does anyone know or have heard when the 2013 NWT Bible will be released in Spanish? 

It will be released when it is and not before.!

Maybe when Spanish RC's start, however that is just a guess.

It could happen anytime, however, Spanish making up the single largest language group

in Jehovah's service today, the brothers probably want to give printed copies the widest distribution

fairly quickly, conventions would work quite well.

[Araujo JW]

21 hours ago, ArthurW said:

Language no. 25 - Luvale - http://download-a.akamaihd.net/files/media_bible/b9/nwt_LV.pdf

Luvale (also spelled Chiluvale, Lovale, Lubale, Luena, Lwena) is a Bantu language spoken by the Lovale people of Angola and Zambia and it is spoken by approximately 640,000 people in these countries. It is recognized as a regional language for educational and administrative purposes in Zambia, where about 168,000 (2006) people speak it.

Luvale is closely related to Chokwe.

 

From Wikipedia 

[LoneWolffe]

On 3/1/2016 at 3:33 PM, pnutts said:

It will be released when it is and not before.!

Maybe when Spanish RC's start, however that is just a guess.

It could happen anytime, however, Spanish making up the single largest language group

in Jehovah's service today, the brothers probably want to give printed copies the widest distribution

fairly quickly, conventions would work quite well.

I would guess that translators are working on languages in which the NWT isn't yet available? I can't wait to see the NWT13 in Spanish, but I'm guessing not as much as brothers in lands that don't even have NWT yet!

[carlos]

On jueves, 03 de marzo de 2016 at 1:12 AM, LoneWolffe said:

I would guess that translators are working on languages in which the NWT isn't yet available? I can't wait to see the NWT13 in Spanish, but I'm guessing not as much as brothers in lands that don't even have NWT yet!

When the 2013 NWT was presented it was announced that translators in Spanish (and other languages) were already working on it for some time, and that was 2 and a half year ago. So it's must be finished or almost finished, and it could be released any time soon.

 

I'm impatient to see if there will be separate Latin American and European Spanish editions as they did with Portuguese. That would be wonderful. Each one in the language that is more familiar for them.

[Pereira]

8 minutes ago, carlos said:

When the 2013 NWT was presented it was announced that translators in Spanish (and other languages) were already working on it for some time, and that was 2 and a half year ago. So it's must be finished or almost finished, and it could be released any time soon.

 

I'm impatient to see if there will be separate Latin American and European Spanish editions as they did with Portuguese. That would be wonderful. Each one in the language that is more familiar for them.

JW.org is already available in Spanish and Spanish (Spain) and Spanish (Catalã) so I'm guessing the same could be for the Bible translation... Lets Wait n  See :-)

[MM9106]

2 hours ago, carlos said:

When the 2013 NWT was presented it was announced that translators in Spanish (and other languages) were already working on it for some time, and that was 2 and a half year ago. So it's must be finished or almost finished, and it could be released any time soon.

 

I'm impatient to see if there will be separate Latin American and European Spanish editions as they did with Portuguese. That would be wonderful. Each one in the language that is more familiar for them.

I was wondering the same thing. Although the difference between the European and Latin American Spanish isn't as big as the two Portuguese dialects. 

[thunderl]

On 3/1/2016 at 1:10 PM, Jennifer H said:

Does anyone know or have heard when the 2013 NWT Bible will be released in Spanish? 

Here in Central America we have a special Zone visit when the Special Talk is scheduled. Seems weird to have it scheduled for the date the Special Talk is. Also, at our Convention, the new book on Jesus was not released in Spanish. Instead, we were told it will come out when the new bible is released in spanish.

[MM9106]

35 minutes ago, thunderl said:

Here in Central America we have a special Zone visit when the Special Talk is scheduled. Seems weird to have it scheduled for the date the Special Talk is. Also, at our Convention, the new book on Jesus was not released in Spanish. Instead, we were told it will come out when the new bible is released in spanish.

So you have a branch visit on April 3rd too? That's weird. Two on the same weekend. In Spanish speaking areas. Could be nothing...or it could be something. Haha. I'm just anxious for it. Won't get my hopes too high and enjoy the tidbits of spiritual information that come out of those meetings.

[carlos]

Wow! In Spain we also have Sanderson's special visit during the April 2-3 weekend!

 

I had no idea that it was a meeting for all the Spanish-speaking world. Uh uh,  this could be something big. Now I'm more excited!

 

[LoneWolffe]

Well, the Zone Visit for Peru is this weekend. Will see if the brothers mention anything on the subject! =)

[MM9106]

So I did a little research about the difference between Latin American Spanish and Spanish from Spain. From what I gathered, the big difference is how words are pronounced. Speakers from Spain put accents on certain parts of certain words while LA speakers don't and vice versa. Conjugation of verbs is a little different, but not too much. Interestingly enough, there is a section jw.org for Spanish (Spain). However that section only contains audio dramas and videos. So it looks like the organization only makes the distinction between the two dialects when it comes to audio. This could mean that when the revised NWT is released in Spanish, it'll be just one universal Spanish. Which is similar to the current NWT in Spanish. The audio recordings that'll happen afterwards...that's a different story and I won't even go there. Haha. I could be completely wrong here. If I am, someone please correct me. I would love to learn more about the differences between the two dialects.

[carlos]

The differences between Spanish from Latin America and Spain are similar to the differences between British and American English: Despite differences in pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar,  both forms are mutually intelligible without any problem (except in the case of very thick regional accents). It must be mentioned that the translation team does a wonderful job to produce a neutral text which is easily understood everywhere.

 

The main reason why I'd love to have a European Spanish edition of the Bible is the use of the plural "you", which is different in Latin American ("ustedes") and Spain ("vosotros"). Imagine if your Bible used "thou" and "thee" and "ye". It wouldn't be hard to understand, but it would sound weird, wouldn't it?

 

Only recently we have had some videos dubbed in European Spanish. The branch noticed that most Spaniards react with rejection when you show them a video with Latino accent in the ministry: It sounds like a soap opera. Besides, many Spaniards have animosity against Latin American immigrants. Even though Christians don't have prejudices, we have to take into account the prejudices of people in our territory. People are reacting much better since we show them videos in European Spanish.

[leoperales]

22 hours ago, carlos said:

The differences between Spanish from Latin America and Spain are similar to the differences between British and American English: Despite differences in pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar,  both forms are mutually intelligible without any problem (except in the case of very thick regional accents). It must be mentioned that the translation team does a wonderful job to produce a neutral text which is easily understood everywhere.

 

The main reason why I'd love to have a European Spanish edition of the Bible is the use of the plural "you", which is different in Latin American ("ustedes") and Spain ("vosotros"). Imagine if your Bible used "thou" and "thee" and "ye". It wouldn't be hard to understand, but it would sound weird, wouldn't it?

 

Only recently we have had some videos dubbed in European Spanish. The branch noticed that most Spaniards react with rejection when you show them a video with Latino accent in the ministry: It sounds like a soap opera. Besides, many Spaniards have animosity against Latin American immigrants. Even though Christians don't have prejudices, we have to take into account the prejudices of people in our territory. People are reacting much better since we show them videos in European Spanish.

 

Following the same line of reasoning, I tried listening to the Spanish (Spain) Memorial video and it does take a little getting used to in order to understand it on the fly. I'm in the US and comparing the Spanish (Latino) to the Spanish (Spain), I prefer and understand the former much easier than the latter, because it's culturalized.

 

I know that's what our brothers in Spain think as well. I'm sure they don't want to hear my Spanish anyways.

[leoperales]

The Branch should make a Spanish (Cuban) as well. 

[LoneWolffe]

22 hours ago, carlos said:

Only recently we have had some videos dubbed in European Spanish. The branch noticed that most Spaniards react with rejection when you show them a video with Latino accent in the ministry: It sounds like a soap opera. Besides, many Spaniards have animosity against Latin American immigrants. Even though Christians don't have prejudices, we have to take into account the prejudices of people in our territory. People are reacting much better since we show them videos in European Spanish.

WT does similar with some of the magazines, different covers for different zones, for example. Even Caleb & Sofia are dressed differently in different countries. I can't imagine that WT could put aside time and resources to produce videos for every single country and language and zone. Quite the undertaking already!

 

Still, you can't please everyone, such as the "JW are American or 'religión de los gringos'" prejudice. The other day, someone in the field asked me who was in the Memorial Invitation video, so we watched it again, the second time pointing out all the different nationalities represented.

[Sheep]

On 3/16/2016 at 6:06 PM, carlos said:

The main reason why I'd love to have a European Spanish edition of the Bible is the use of the plural "you", which is different in Latin American ("ustedes") and Spain ("vosotros"). Imagine if your Bible used "thou" and "thee" and "ye". It wouldn't be hard to understand, but it would sound weird, wouldn't it?

 

Does that mean Latin American Spanish does not differentiate between the singular and plural "you"? I don't know Spanish at all, so that's why I ask.

 

I have always thought it was a drawback in English to not differentiate between singular and plural (although the absence of a difference between subjective and objective is indicated by the context anyway). The only word for all forms is "you". However, in what we call "old English" (although more accurately "middle English", Shakespeare's time, 1564 - 1616 ), the singular "you" was "thou" (subjective) and "thee" (objective). The plural forms were "ye" (subjective) and "you" (objective). In the 1984 NWT (and preceding versions), the plural "you" was spelled with all capitals (YOU). But now, in the 2013 NWT, that distinction has been removed. All forms are spelled in lower case (you). It is only in cases where the plural form is essential to the understanding, but is not indicated by the context, that there is a difference (example: Exodus 3:12). So I think the newer NWT loses some of its accuracy like that, even though it's a lot easier to read.

 

(I'm looking forward to a new French NWT. In French, there is already a difference between singular and plural "you", "tu" and "vous", respectively. But a new, more understandable French would be nice.)

 

Anyway, I'm not saying it would be better for us to use middle English to be more understandable. But does the difference in European Spanish between singular and plural make the language more complex, or harder to learn?

Edited March 17, 2016 by Sheep
...added paragraph regarding French...

[carlos]

2 hours ago, leoperales said:

I know that's what our brothers in Spain think as well. I'm sure they don't want to hear my Spanish anyways.

@leoperales Hey Leo. I do want to hear your Spanish accent! I guess the point is we tend to feel more comfortable when we hear the accent and the words we are used to hear.

 

3 minutes ago, Sheep said:

Does that mean Latin American Spanish does not differentiate between the singular and plural "you"? I don't know Spanish at all, so that's why I ask.

@Sheep Eric, all variants of Spanish differentiate between the singular and plural you. Only that we use different ways to do it.

 

I was wondering some days ago about the fact that the new NWT no longer has the plural YOU in capitals. Probably there are not many passages where that makes a different, but surely there must be some. I guess the translators used some expression as "you all" or "you people" to make clear whom that "you" refers to.

[Sheep]

3 minutes ago, carlos said:

I guess the translators used some expression as "you all" or "you people" to make clear whom that "you" refers to.

 

To my recollection it is "you people". But never "you all"! That would be too much like the southern drawl "y'all" to my ears!

 

(I have nothing against y'all from the south, BTW.)

[jwhess]

From Appendix A2:

 

*** nwt pp. 1724-1725 A2 Features of This Revision ***

• Omission of indicators for second person plural. Past editions also indicated whether the pronouns “you” and “your” and second person verbs were singular or plural by using small capital letters to show plurality. This feature was not retained in this revision, but readers may consult earlier editions of this translation for this information.
All adjustments in the Bible text were made prayerfully, carefully, and with deep respect for the fine work of the original New World Bible Translation Committee.
 

[sweetwillow58]

I can't wait till the Italian version comes out, we had an elderly couple move into our Cong both originally from Italy & Sicily. They are getting their literature in Italian & I am trying to help them learn to use the tablet their daughter got them. A little challenging since it is set so everything is in Italian!

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[mexiguoren]

I cannot wait until the revised version in Spanish comes out either. I wonder how the GB is going to handle the announcement since there are so many countries where Spanish is spoken in different time zones and to make one announcement at the same time would be challenging. Further, regional conventions are held in different seasons depending on the countries involved. It would almost need to be a special meeting when all the countries are connected at the same time. It will be definitely interesting to see how they do it.

 

I also cannot wait until the revised version in Chinese is released. It is very interesting that there will be a Special Convention in Taiwan from the 11th to the 13th of November. In fact, the whole country is assigned to this convention including other languages such as English, Japanese, Taiwanese Sign, Min Nan, and Amis languages. Most of the Chinese speaking brothers and Sisters in the world are expected to be at this convention. It would be very convenient for the GB to take advantage of this opportunity to release the NWT revised version in Chinese at this convention. That would be awesome and we'll have to wait until November to find out.

[Juanlazalah]

Portuguese from Portugal added again !!! 

[JABA]

Portuguese from Portugal added again !!! 

It has been released on the regional conventions.

So it is official, we now have our own version...

[Araujo JW]

17 minutes ago, JABA said:

It has been released on the regional conventions.

So it is official, we now have our own version...

I'm very, very happy for our brothers in Portugal and other countries that speak Portuguese European, our language akin (Brazil).