DRBOnlyism for Non-English Countries?

[mattwcu]

I had a question come to mind and I figured someone here could answer it. For a lot of traditional Catholics in English speaking countries, the Douay-Rheims Bible is the standard (if not the ONLY) acceptable version.

What do non-English speaking countries use by comparison? What would be the French, Spanish, German, or Italian equivalents?

 

[bilop]

I had a question come to mind and I figured someone here could answer it. For a lot of traditional Catholics in English speaking countries, the Douay-Rheims Bible is the standard (if not the ONLY) acceptable version.

What do non-English speaking countries use by comparison? What would be the French, Spanish, German, or Italian equivalents?

The equivalent would be the direct vernacular translation of St. Jerome’s Vulgate into those languages.

I’m sure they exist, and probably pre-date the DR, but I am not familiar with them, as I read only English.

God Bless

 

[Cristiano]

I would say that the in the case of Italian Bibles the equivalent to the DR is the translation (1768-1781) by Mons. A. Martini. I understand that it was used as the official national Bible until 1970.

I also understand that there was an 'Italian" version in the XV century but I do not have any info about it.

 

[SanJudas]

What would be the French, Spanish, German, or Italian equivalents?

I read Spanish and Italian. The translation problems from Latin into those two languages are much less acute because of their similarities to Latin; not only vocabulary but also word order are much closer to the Vulgate which allows less room for discussion about which is the “proper” translation for any particular word, concept, or phrase.

 

[Cristiano]

I read Spanish and Italian. The translation problems from Latin into those two languages are much less acute because of their similarities to Latin; not only vocabulary but also word order are much closer to the Vulgate which allows less room for discussion about which is the “proper” translation for any particular word, concept, or phrase.

That does not matter too much. There are already a lot of discussions for the 1974 version of the Bible (on the vatican web site) published by the CEI (Comunita’ Episcopale Italiana) that is the equivalent of USCCB.

There is a new version by CEI that should be released in the summer of 2008. The new version is used as a scholastic textbook in the Italian public schools and because of its departure from the Vulgata and the Martini there is already (from 2006) a lawsuit from a lay publisher of school textbooks. (XIII Civil Section of the Tribunal in Rome R.G. 50723/2006)

I am not getting into the merits of the translation or of the lawsuit, I am just saying that even in the case of a language close to Latin you can have translations that do not leave everybody happy.