9 replies to this topic

[shengchieh]

To All:

Do anybody knows which greek text is used for various chinese translations?
I'm looking at

- Union Translation
- New Chinese Version
- Today's Chinese Version
- Chinese Living Bible

So far, I can only guess (correct me if wrong) that Union derives from
The Greek Textus Receptus.

Thank in advanced for your reply.

Sheng-Chieh

[Fortigurn]

shengchieh, on Jan 2 2005, 07:34 AM, said:

To All:

Do anybody knows which greek text is used for various chinese translations?
I'm looking at

- Union Translation
- New Chinese Version
- Today's Chinese Version
- Chinese Living Bible

So far, I can only guess (correct me if wrong) that Union derives from
The Greek Textus Receptus.

Thank in advanced for your reply.

Sheng-Chieh

• The Union (he2 he2 ben3), is actually simply a Chinese translation of the 1885 Revised Version.
  
  Note that this is the Revised Version, not the Revised Standard Version. The Textus Receptus is source text of the Revised Version, but the Revised Version (being a revision of the KJV), did take into account new textual data which was not available at the time that the KJV was printed, and so does not follow the Receptus slavishly. You can read more about the Revised Version here.
  
  
  
• The New Chinese Version (xin1 yi4 ben3), use the standard BHS (Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia), for the Old Testament, but uses NA 25 (Nestle/Aland edition 25) for the New Testament. This is a significant advance on the New Testament text of the Receptus, though not as up to date as most modern Bibles, which use NA 27. It is anticipated that NA 27 will be used for the next revision of the NCV.
  
  
  
• Today's Chinese Version (xian4 dai4 xin4 yi4 ben3), was first published by the United Bible Society (1975), and is based on the original 1974 edition of the 'Today's English Version' (also called the 'Good News Bible'), so it is a version rather than a direct translation from the Hebrew and Greek source texts.
  
  Since the 'Today's English Version' or 'Good News Bible', was published by the United Bible Society, it follows the original language texts considered authoratative by UBS. These are, naturally, BHS for the Old Testament, and Nestle/Aland for the New Testament. So if you get a copy of Nestle/Aland 25, you'll have the New Testament source text for the 'Today's Chinese Version'.
  
  
  
• The Chinese Living Bible (tang dai4 ben3 - not sure of this one, sorry about my pinyin), is very probably a straightforward Chinese translation of the English 'Living Bible' (1971), or the later 'New Living Translation' (1996).
  
  The original English 'Living Translation' was simply a paraphrasing of the American Standard Version (1901), and not a translation from original language source texts. The New Living Bible, being simply an English revision of the 'Living Translation', does not use any of the original language source texts either.
  
  So if the Chinese Living Bible is in fact the Chinese translation of the 'Living Translation' or the 'New Living Bible', then it will share the same original language source texts as the American Standard Version (1901), which is the same as the KJV (Masoretic text for the Old Testament, Textus Receptus for the New Testament).

I hope this helps.

[Fortigurn]

Mishael, on Jan 2 2005, 12:08 PM, said:

Sheng-Chieh welcome to

I can't answer your question, however, Tarkus may perhaps be able to later when he logs in, and if not, another friend who is a "Greek Geek" and also fluent in Chinese, I can ask him, though it may, in the case of the latter, be a day or two for response as he is not a member of the forum and I will have to email him privately with the question.

Thanks Mish, I'm emailing Soxy about it now.

[shengchieh]

Thanks for your help!

While we are on this topic, is there any you recommend?
I.e., what is the best translation for

a.
old people (Chinese people whom left before the
communist took over)?

b.
young people (2nd generation American-born Chinese)

c.
young international people (student coming from mainland
China - using simplified Chinese script instead of the
"traditional" script)

Sheng-Chieh

[Fortigurn]

shengchieh, on Jan 3 2005, 06:07 AM, said:

Thanks for your help!

While we are on this topic, is there any you recommend?
I.e., what is the best translation for

a.
old people (Chinese people whom left before the
communist took over)?

b.
young people (2nd generation American-born Chinese)

c.
young international people (student coming from mainland
China - using simplified Chinese script instead of the
"traditional" script)

Sheng-Chieh

That's a more difficult question Sheng-Chieh. I'm afraid I don't have the necessary knowledge or experience to answer this one properly. I have asked another of our members to see if he can help with this question (he's Hmong), and I'll pass it on to a friend of mine who works in China and who has a lot of experience with Chinese Bibles.

[Holysay]

Don't know if this is any help but here is a site you can check out. Go here or call them up for more info, I'm sure they will help you.

[Fortigurn]

Holysay, on Jan 4 2005, 05:43 PM, said:

Don't know if this is any help but here is a site you can check out. Go here or call them up for more info, I'm sure they will help you.

Thanks for that HolySay.

[Holysay]

Fortigurn, on Jan 4 2005, 06:45 AM, said:

Thanks for that HolySay. 

Welcome Fortigurn

[Mercia2]

Buy yourself a copy of Vines Expository Dictionary of NT Words and READ IT. This is very important. You can get a copy from most decent Christian bookshops that have a wide range of reference materials.

Look-up these words - death, hell, grave, destroy, soul, and spirit [Another good Expository Dic., is L.O Richards dic.] Don’t worry if you can’t read Greek or Hebrew. These books explain with English the word meanings. I have seen Christadelphian literature selectively quote from Vine. And give the wrong impression about what he taught. As you search Vine’s Dictionary you will change your mind about many doctrines.