I keep hearing that the Quran can't be translated to english???

[Epidemic]

Quran translations:

I find it exceedingly difficult to believe that the Quran can not be translated accurately. Many words I am sure translate fine for the sections which are unclear I believe that the english language is flexible to describe the rest depending on how verbose you wish to get. I am sure someone fluent in arabic and english could clarify 99.9% with side notes.


Theo, I believe that you were the last one to contend this. Do you care to explain.

If it is untranslatable then that would mean that there would be no one who could learn arabic if they were of european upbringing. As such I contend that no one could possible convert from a european background because the holy book could never be read by the indoctrinated faithful.

Any thoughts.

[Warthog]

I'm curious...I'll let CM give some input.

[J-Excel]

Might have something to do with things getting lost in translation. And the idea that the translator may put a personal spin on the translation.

For example, take a sentence and translate it a few times in Google. Like this...

ORIGINAL: The Quran is a very good book filled with many religious stories.

ENGLISH-FRENCH: Le Quran est un livre trčs bon rempli de beaucoup d'histoires religieuses.

FRENCH-GERMAN: Quran ist ein gefülltes sehr gutes Buch viel religiöser Geschichte.

GERMAN-ENGLISH: Quran is a filled very good book of much religious history.


The word 'stories', which could mean fiction, was translated to 'history', which would mean they are records of actual events.

[Theophylact]

ClubMed's the go-to guy, all right. But here's my whack at it:

It's not that there aren't translations of the Quran available; there are lots of them. I've got a couple myself. It's just that they aren't the Quran.

As Muslims would have it, the Quran was dictated directly to Mohamed, in Arabic. Those are the words, and not one of them can be changed. You want to memorize a prayer, you memorize it in Arabic. You want to understand the Quran, you learn Arabic.

(Although it's a poor analogy, you might consider this: would a valid magical spell in Latin be expected to work in an English translation? Anybody who reads fantasy fiction would say, "Naah.")

[Warthog]

I understand the point you are making J-Excel but any online translators are piss poor to begin with

Warthog

[Theophylact]

In case you're interested, there's a nice piece in Sunday's Washington Post about my friend Zack, the Islamic calligrapher who designed the US Eid stamp. He came to the Quran via Arabic, not vice versa:

He was not raised in a faith tradition but had an intense curiosity. One day while browsing in a bookstore, he found the book "Teach Yourself Arabic."

"I said to myself, 'It's about time you taught yourself another language,' " he recalled.

This new interest prompted Zakariya to travel to Morocco, and he booked passage on a Yugoslavian freighter for $50. In Morocco, Zakariya became interested in Islam. Back in Los Angeles, he began reading the Koran. "It reached out to me," he said, "and at that point, I felt this irresistible urge to join the religion."

[Creatures]

well it's Koran in german (as long as i remember =)

(lol first thing i found with the word koran: http://oregonstate.edu/groups/msa/quran/index_g.html maybe you're interested! (sry just german)

BTW babelfish is much better than that stupid google

Creatures

[Warthog]

In fact, I was speaking of babelfish when I made my comment

[J-Excel]

Babel Fish result:
Quran is a filled very good book of much religious history.

Google result:
Quran is a filled very good book of much religious history.

Much better.


My point was, that in translation one word or phrase can be translated many different ways. This is true even when human translators are involved.

[shahani]

Additionaly, many of the nuances would be understood only by those who have knowledge of history. And those who have some appreciation of culture.

Without this background, even an excellent translation will be lost.