Quran in different languages

[dronald]

I speak Farsi, and my wife is fluent in Arabic. This rhythm and reverence is lost when translated into English.

The meaning however can be conveyed when translated, but what might take a sentence in English is just one word in Arabic

Arabic is a uniquely complete language. There is a word for EVERYTHING, and the depth of meaning in each word is incredibly unique amongst all other languages.

Hope that helps

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Yes, this makes sense. The issue I have is those claiming that English speakers aren’t really reading the Qur’an because they’re not reading it in Arabic.

Anything can be translated as long as we know the message the author was trying to convey.

 

[Servant19]

Yes, this makes sense. The issue I have is those claiming that English speakers aren’t really reading the Qur’an because they’re not reading it in Arabic.

Anything can be translated as long as we know the message the author was trying to convey.

Yes I agree. I can tell you however, that there is no “really good” translation of the Quran.

The Arabic and Farsi Baha’i Writings have been translated authoritatively, so it is a lot more powerful when recited.

I have seen Arab speaking people in tears when reading the Arabic version of the Quran. I have rarely seen that when anyone reads the English translations.

However, I have seen many many in tears when reading the Baha’i Writings in Arabic AND in English.

There are translations and there are TRANSLATIONS .


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[abucs]

I wonder if God has a language.

I realise that He understands all languages but sometimes when I pray I seem to make a deeper connection with Him when I deliberately try to avoid using words.

As if human words somehow detract from the full greatness of God.

Anybody with me there?

 

[Servant19]

I wonder if God has a language.

I realise that He understands all languages but sometimes when I pray I seem to make a deeper connection with Him when I deliberately try to avoid using words.

As if human words somehow detract from the full greatness of God.

Anybody with me there?

I feel that too sometimes. Its beyond language dear friend. I’m with you for sure

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[Matthew_Light]

I wonder if God has a language.

I think so. I believe God’s language is love in its fullest and truest sense.

I realise that He understands all languages but sometimes when I pray I seem to make a deeper connection with Him when I deliberately try to avoid using words.

As if human words somehow detract from the full greatness of God.

Anybody with me there?

That’s beautiful! I agree that there is a spirit behind and beyond the words which is far more beautiful and important. And of course every time we see and appreciate love and beauty in life, that is prayer.

Regarding what you wrote, it reminds me of this quote from a prayer by Abdu’l-Baha:

“Reveal then Thyself, O Lord, by Thy merciful utterance and the mystery of Thy divine being, that the holy ecstasy of prayer may fill our souls—a prayer that shall rise above words and letters and transcend the murmur of syllables and sounds—that all things may be merged into nothingness before the revelation of Thy splendor.”

 

[LtTony]

Arabic is not a superior language but The Arabic in Quran is superior because it is exactly speechs of Allah.

Reading Quran in original text(in Arabic) is worshiping for Allah.

There are at least 40 miracle sides of Quran in Arabic(Because of being speech of God). When Quran translated from Arabic many meanings go away.

There had been always translation of Quran in other Muslim’s language. And also non-Arabic scholars of İslam learned Arabic. They give meaning of Quran to others unknowing Arabic.

Thank you, hasantas. What do you mean, “There are at least 40 miracle sides of Quran in Arabic”?

 

[Publisher]

When one reads “love” in English, do other words used as qualifiers need to be used? We have a single word “love”…Yet Greek has several and depending on the type of “love” being discussed determines which work for “love” is used.

Hebrew as I understand has similar words that when translated into English, requires “qualifiers” to assist that the meaning of the Hebrew word being used is understood, as English has but a single word.

As I understand, only the Arabic Qu’ran is the Qu’ran…translations outside of Arabic are more like “commentaries” as the depth of meaning of the Qu’ran is lost, and sometimes difficult to convey in any other language without it becoming convoluted.

The Qu’ran is a “song” or a piece of “poetry”, not a narrative like the Bible. The “song” is more easily understood, from what I have read, when one knows the language of the “song” that is being sung…rather than a translation that can be awkward and rough and difficult in it’s “flow”.

What language does God speak? To the poster who mentioned maybe God has no language, language is a human “construct”…when God spoke, He spoke one Word…“Jesus”…as the music artist, Michael Card wrote, “He needed no other word”

 

[John_Lazarus]

My father once gave a speech, in English, to a Japanese audience while he was in Japan. His speech included a joke, and he got the expected laugh when the translator reached that point. Afterwards, he asked the translator how he had translated the English joke into Japanese. The translator answered, "I said, ‘the professor has just told a joke. Please laugh now.’ " Being Japanese, and very polite, the audience laughed.

I laughed.

That Japanese translator is most persuasive.

Reminds me of the journalist who tried to tell the Dalai Lama a joke, the one about the Buddhist who went up to the hot dog stand and said, “Make me one with everything.”

The Dalai Lama remained “unenlightened”, to say the least, as the journalist struggled to explain it.

 

[John_Lazarus]

God only speaks Arabic? I have heard it all now.

No, Allah speaks only Arabic. At least he was getting the Angel Gabriel to speak Arabic when he commanded Muhammad to recite the Quran in Arabic.

No, Gabriel obviously translates for his audience: Arabic for Muhammad, Aramaic for Mary, Hebrew for Daniel, etc.

Because God’s language is Irish Gaelic.

 

[rossum]

Because God’s language is Irish Gaelic.

Of course. That bit in Genesis 1:2 about the “waters”. Moses didn’t have a word for “Guinness” yet, so he had to say “waters” instead. Another example of the difficulties of translating one language into another.

rossum

 

[dronald]

No, Gabriel obviously translates for his audience: Arabic for Muhammad, Aramaic for Mary, Hebrew for Daniel, etc.

Because God’s language is Irish Gaelic.

If God appeared to me I Canada would He have a Canadian accent? Or Irish if He appeared to someone in Ireland? Hmmm

 

[whoisdiss]

They say the Qur’an in Arabic is superior to all other translations because, “It’s the exact words Allah spoke.”

 

[abucs]

No, Gabriel obviously translates for his audience: Arabic for Muhammad, Aramaic for Mary, Hebrew for Daniel, etc.

Because God’s language is Irish Gaelic.

Is that Kerry Gaelic or Donegal Gaelic? Please don’t tell me he’s one of those northerners!

 

[John_Lazarus]

If God appeared to me I Canada would He have a Canadian accent?

No, He’d get His trusty interpreter, Gabriel. Instead of “Hail” or “Ave” it’d be, “How’s it goin’, eh?”

 

[Cromwell4]

Dronald wrote:Can you give an example of a word or expression that would be lost when translating from Arabic to English? I can’t imagine that anything can not be translated

'Fraid your knowledge of linguistics is rather sketchy to say the least. No language is the exact replica of another; all have slightly different nuances, even different grammatical categories
Voc.
Arabic has 100 words for 'camel’
Eskimo (Innuit) has over 50 words for ‘snow’.(Since we have only one word in each case, how do you translate their concept?)

Syntax/grammar: Arabic does not have a tense system, rather complete or incomplete actions.

The list of differences is endless; otherwise learning languages would be simply a matter of word substitution.

There can never be an exact translation; it is always approximate

 

[Razanir]

Can you give an example of a word or expression that would be lost when translating from Arabic to English?

I can’t imagine that anything can not be translated.

It’s not an Arabic or Quranic example, but the Bible even has cases like this. Consider the end of John’s Gospel. Consider John 21:15-19. In English, they just keep using the word “love”. But in the original Greek, Jesus and Peter were using different words. Jesus kept asking about agape, while Peter kept replying with philia.

 

[nmgauss]

It’s not an Arabic or Quranic example, but the Bible even has cases like this. Consider the end of John’s Gospel. Consider John 21:15-19. In English, they just keep using the word “love”. But in the original Greek, Jesus and Peter were using different words. Jesus kept asking about agape, while Peter kept replying with philia.

It has been asserted that God communicated with Jesus at the time of his baptism not in words but in spiritual energy. How does one translate spiritual energy into words so that people can understand it? The answer seems to be that you can’t.

 

[rossum]

It has been asserted that God communicated with Jesus at the time of his baptism not in words but in spiritual energy. How does one translate spiritual energy into words so that people can understand it? The answer seems to be that you can’t.

There is a story of a Chinese Buddhist monk who travelled from China to India to get accurate copies of the scriptures. When he arrived at the library he was asked, “Do you want the versions with errors, or the versions without errors?” Naturally he asked for the versions without errors. When he had loaded up as many scrolls as he could reasonably carry, he set off back to China. Unfortunately, one of the scrolls wasn’t securely fixed so it fell to the ground and partly unrolled. The monk noticed that the scroll was blank. Shocked, he examined all the other scrolls and they were all blank. Naturally he went straight back to the library and complained to the librarian, “The scrolls you gave me are all blank!”

“Of course they are,” the librarian replied. “You asked for the versions without errors.”

rossum

 

[John_Lazarus]

There is a story of a Chinese Buddhist monk who travelled from China to India to get accurate copies of the scriptures. When he arrived at the library he was asked, “Do you want the versions with errors, or the versions without errors?” Naturally he asked for the versions without errors. When he had loaded up as many scrolls as he could reasonably carry, he set off back to China. Unfortunately, one of the scrolls wasn’t securely fixed so it fell to the ground and partly unrolled. The monk noticed that the scroll was blank. Shocked, he examined all the other scrolls and they were all blank. Naturally he went straight back to the library and complained to the librarian, “The scrolls you gave me are all blank!”

“Of course they are,” the librarian replied. “You asked for the versions without errors.”

rossum

What, there’s no King James Version of Buddhist scripture?

 

[dronald]

Dronald wrote:Can you give an example of a word or expression that would be lost when translating from Arabic to English? I can’t imagine that anything can not be translated

'Fraid your knowledge of linguistics is rather sketchy to say the least. No language is the exact replica of another; all have slightly different nuances, even different grammatical categories
Voc.
Arabic has 100 words for 'camel’
Eskimo (Innuit) has over 50 words for ‘snow’.(Since we have only one word in each case, how do you translate their concept?)

Syntax/grammar: Arabic does not have a tense system, rather complete or incomplete actions.

The list of differences is endless; otherwise learning languages would be simply a matter of word substitution.

There can never be an exact translation; it is always approximate

So because Allah would use different words for camal, it can by no means explained in English that it was indeed a camal?

You didn’t give me an example of what I was asking.