Translating the Sacred Without Making Language Sacred - On the Work with the Books of Moses in the New Danish Bible Translation

Dansk Oversætterforbund and Aarhus Litteraturcenter mark the international translator's day, Hieronymus Day, with an event at Vogn 1 on Godsbanen. This year's speaker is Martin Ehrensvärd, Ph.D. in Semitic philology and lecturer at the Faculty of Theology at the University of Copenhagen - and one of the translators behind the new Danish Bible translation.

Under the title "Translating the Sacred Without Making Language Sacred", Ehrensvärd discusses the work with the Books of Moses and how even small translation choices can shift the reader's understanding. Should it say, for example, that Sarah no longer had it "in a woman's way", or simply that she had stopped menstruating? He addresses the balance between tradition and target audience, and the difference between the foreignness inherent in the source text itself and the foreignness that a Danish translation can create.

The event is free but requires advance registration. There will be an opportunity to ask questions, and Dansk Oversætterforbund will host light refreshments. Hieronymus Day is marked every year on September 30 in Copenhagen; in Aarhus the event is held on the first Friday after that date.