Translation of the Bible: English to Ukrainian

ENGLISH ORIGINAL

(1) In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

(2) Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

(3) And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.

(4) God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.

(5) God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning-the first day.

UKRAINIAN TRANSLATION

(1) На початку Бог створив Небо та землю.

(2) А земля була пуста та порожня, і темрява була над безоднею, і Дух Божий ширяв над поверхнею води.

(3) І сказав Бог: Хай станеться світло! І сталося світло.

(4) побачив Бог світло що добре воно, і Бог відділив світло від темряви.

(5) Бог назвав світло: День, а темряву назвав: Ніч. І був вечір, і був ранок – день перший.

ISSUES IN TRANSLATING TEXT FROM ENGLISH TO UKRAINIAN

(1) This sentence was fairly easy to translate. I was debating whether to use the word “ta” or “i” for “and” – I settled on “ta” because it seems more lyrical, but I do not think there is a difference in using one over the other. Ukrainian is a very poetic language so I choose the word that sounded like it fit in better.

(2) For this sentence, I was wondering if I should use “pusta” or “porozna.” I was planning to use the more colloquial word, “pusta,” but the other word was one of the dictionary’s suggestions. The formality seems more appropriate to the text.

(3) For this sentence: No serious hesitations about translation.

(4) The two options were to write:

1- God saw that the light was good (adjective);

2- God saw that it was good (more general statement about the result).

Choose the latter because it puts the emphasis on the sun in a formal way, in a sense that was not transmitted by the other way of translating it.

(5) Discrepancy over writing “the first day” -- either on the first day (possessive) –of that first day – or 1^st day (more nominative, ie it was the first day). I used the phrase that just emphasizes that it was the first day as opposed to that the events happened on the first day.

I realize that some of these explanations are confusing, but I really went with what “sounded” most appropriate – what I felt what right and what I was used to hearing. This translation exercise forced me to think of what style of writing is privileged in the Ukrainian language.