The topics raised at the lectures ranged from translation in medieval Norway, authority and tradition when translating the Bible, translations of the Quran, to the bible in Arabic and much more.
We also got an exciting lecture on Zoom from ATTR alumni Ronald Kibirige. This inspires us to invite other alumni to come and share their knowledge and experience.
Planning and seeing this seminar through has been both fun and tense at times. There is a lot of planning and logistics involved when doing a hybrid event. Luckily, we got some much-needed help from Rune (IT at TF) when we set up the technical equipment the first day.
At the last “roundtable talk” (which have never taken place around a round table), the students discussed their experience the last few days.
One student had this to say: “I have found the PhD-groups with feedback particularly helpful and motivating. I especially appreciate that we get feedback from people both in our fields and from people from other fields… The discussion today about what it means that a translation is “close to the text” is also very interesting.”
Topics at the last discussion
- The use of “loan words” in translations. As an example, Coptic texts uses Greek words and Ottoman texts uses Arabic words.
- Authority of the source text: what difference does it make if a translation is a substitute or a replacement of the original?
- The institutional aspect of translation and authority, with reference to Morten Beckmann’s lecture with focus on the Norwegian “Bibelselskapet” and the 2011 edition of the Bible
What happens next?
Our next seminar is planned to take place in March 2021 in Athens. Due to the ongoing pandemic this is under evaluation and we will come back with more information to our members as soon as possible.
We hope to see you all again soon, either in real life and/or Zoom.
Questions?
Please contact ATTR Administrative coordinator/ Christin-Helen Vasvik
