I have no clue, but anecdotally: I have a Spanish New Testament and its the NVI (Nueva Versión Internacional), which I assume is the NIV translated into Spanish of course, lol…
The Spanish NVI is a translation direct from the biblical languages into Spanish
a) under the auspices of the same sponsors as the English NIV,
b) according to similar principles as the English NIV.
Sorry, but I really don’t know where to put this and this section seems to be where people go in this case.
I was wondering if the popular spanish bible translations are the same as the english translations (KJV, NIV, RSV, etc) just in spanish or are their different versions?
Also, if anyone knows any good Spanish books (preferably not a very hard read) that would be great. I’ve been learning the language and would like to get some books.
Most Spanish Bibles are translations direct from the original languages. Exceptions are
a) those translated from the Latin Vulgate, such as the version of Felix Torres Amat,
b) translations based on the King James Version by KJV fanatics.
Largely, there is no `this corresponds to this’ relationship between the translations in the two languages.
The traditional Spanish translation is the Reina-Valera Bible. It was done by Cassiodoro de Reyna/Reina in 1569 and a revision of that in 1602 by Cypriano/Cipriano de Valera. The next major revision was 1862, then 1909, then 1960, and 1995. The 1960 is most common today, then the 1909. Most people who are traditionalists opt for the 1909; the 1862 is out of print, to my knowledge.
As you can probably figure out, the KJV and Reina-Valera do not correspond. The Reina-Valera predates the KJV, and while the KJV translators consulted it, they based their work on the older English Bishops’ Bible.
In modern translations, the Versión Popular was made to parallel the Good News Translation. Still, neither is a translation of the other. It is approved for Catholic use, and widely used for that purpose.
Also common, La Biblia de las Américas is a parallel to the New American Standard Bible. Both of these translations are sponsored by the Lockman Foundation under very similar principles.
I already talked about the NVI. See the top of this post. In the last few years, there has been an increase in publishers realizing commercial success with their English translations and sponsoring Bible translations into Spanish along similar principles. I am not sure how I feel about this trend, but in fairness, the VP, LBLA, and NVI precede this trend.
Finally, of special interest here will probably be the version of Felix Torres Amat, a translation of the Latin Vulgate. Most volumes I have seen which have it are absolutely beautiful. It, like the Douay-Rheims Version, is based upon the Latin Vulgate – but they are by no means the same.
If I was to recommend a Spanish Bible to you, a Catholic, I would recommend, in order:
a) Versión Popular with your longer Old Testament, dynamic equivalence translation, easy to read,
b) the Felix Torres Amat, more challenging to read but thoroughly Catholic, but from the Vulgate,
c) the Reina-Valera 1960 or 1995: moderate reading level, rather literal to text, lacks longer Old Testament.
If you are wanting to make an investment in learning Spanish by reading the Bible, I would highly recommend you opt for more than one of these. If you are unable to do that, and need the single best option, I think option (a) is far and away the best choice for a Catholic.
