ABSTRACT
The Bible is God’s way of communicating with His people in
such a manner that would easily be understood. This has resulted in the many
translations of the Bible from their original languages to specific target
languages, including Asante-Twi. The first edition of the Asante-Twi Full Bible
was published in 1964 as a result of the revision works on the Akuapem-Twi
Bible with slight changes in orthographies. The latest revised edition of the
Asante-Twi Bible is the 2012 version. Since no translation is perfect, the
Asante-Twi Bible (2012) also suffers similar challenge. The researcher
identified six (6) of such translation and exegetical problems in the New
Testament of the Asante-Twi Bible (AsTB).
These include words and phrases in Matthew 15:19 (moicei/ai);
25:15 (ta,lanta); Galatians 5:23 (evgkra,teia);
and Ephesians 4:12 (tou/ sw,matoj tou/ Cristou);
6:9 (avnie,ntej th.n avpeilh,n); and 6:12 (pa,lh).
The research employs biblical exegesis and mother-tongue biblical hermeneutics
in analysing the Greek texts and that of the AsTB texts. Comparative analyses
of the Asante-Twi texts with other Ghanaian mother-tongue Bibles were done to
show how the various Greek texts have been rendered in these mother-tongue
Bibles. The research revealed that the Asante-Twi Bible is widely and mostly
used by members of the mainline Churches irrespective of the level of education.
However, the translations of some of the words fail to meet the thought pattern
of the contemporary Asante Christian whose socio-cultural settings are changing
with time. It is recommended that stakeholders of the Asante-Twi Bible
continually review it to reflect the understanding of the contemporary Asante
Christian taking into cognisance the changing socio-cultural values of the
Asante Christian.
CHAPTER
ONE
GENERAL
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
to the Study
According to the late Nelson Mandela of South Africa,
"If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head.
If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”1 This
assertion by Mandela reflects the need to present the gospel message to the
African in his own language since the Bible was written in the everyday
languages of its original readers. Hence, for a better understanding of the
Scriptures there is the need to translate it from the original languages to the
mother–tongues of the indigenous people.2
Bible translation in Africa can be traced back to around 260
BC in the ancient city of Alexandria, Egypt where, the Hebrew Scripture was
translated into Greek, known as the Septuagint (LXX). This translation
facilitated the spread of Christianity among Hellenistic groups.3
The ability of Christianity to thrive in Egypt in the face of the Arab conquest
in the seventh century can be linked to the development of Scriptures in the
Coptic language in Egypt. But with reference to other North African countries
like Carthage, Hippo, and other non-Egyptian settlements, the non-availability
of Scriptures in their indigenous languages coupled with the overemphasis of
the Latin Scriptures had a negative impact on the survival of Christianity in
the wake of the Arab
In Ghana, Bible translations date back to the mid nineteenth
century. According to Ype Schaaf,5 the earliest local translations
were the Ga, Akuapem-Twi6, Mfantse7 and the Ewe. Portions
of the Bible were first translated into Ga, Akuapem-Twi, Mfantse and Ewe in
1843, 1859, 1896 and 1858 respectively. New Testament translations were
published in 1859, 1863, 1896 and 1877 respectively. The complete translations
of the whole Bible into Ga, Akuapem-Twi, Mfantse and Ewe were achieved in 1866,
1871, 1948 and 1913 respectively. However, in 1964 the Twi Bible (referring to
the Akuapem-Twi version of the Bible which was used by all the Akan speaking
people) was revised into the Asante-Twi and Akuapem-Twi, with slightly
different orthographies.8 Currently, three institutions are involved
in the translations of the Bible in Ghana, namely Bible Society of Ghana (BSG),
Ghana Institute of Linguistics, Literacy and Bible Translation (GILLBT), and
the International Bible Society, also known as Biblica (IBS).9
The Akan language including Asante-Twi is the most widely
spoken language in Ghana. In addition to Asante-Twi, the Akan language is a
cluster of dialects such as Akuapem-Twi, Mfantse, Wassa, Agona, Akyem, Bron and
Kwahu.10 According to Ekem, the term “Twi” is
1.2 Statement
of Problem
Bible translation has been the vehicle for communicating the
language of the Bible from the original text to the target audience. In the mid
eighteenth century, there were attempts by some Ghanaian missionaries to
interpret some portions of Scriptures into their mother-tongue.12
These indigenous missionaries saw the need to communicate their new faith to
the indigenes in their own mother tongues.
Bible translation and Bible interpretation are interwoven.
They are so interrelated that the practice of either one presupposes the other.
Bible translation has always involved a great deal of hermeneutical competence.
Throughout the process of interpretation, translators interpret the texts and
make exegetical choices.13 Hence, the hermeneutical and exegetical
skills of the translator are brought to the fore in translation works. Since no
translation is done in a vacuum
According to B. Y. Quarshie,15 there has been a
worry over the unsatisfactory nature of some older versions of the
mother-tongue Scriptures in Ghana and Africa in general. This, according to him
has been as a result of a literalist “transliteration” rather than translation
of meaning by the missionary translators who began translation works in Ghana
and Africa. Quarshie therefore calls for a re-translation of the older versions
of the mother-tongue Scriptures including the AsTB.16 In view of
that the 1964 versions of the Asante-Twi and Akuapem-Twi Bibles (AkTB) have
been revised and published in 2012. However, there are still some translation
problems in the Asante-Twi Bible which limit the Asante Christian to better
understand the Scriptures as intended for the original recipients of the
Scriptures in his own language.
A classic example of a translation problem is the
translation of “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors”
in Matthew 6:12 as Na fa y1n aka
firi y1n (And loan to us our debts), in the 1964 version of the
AsTB. However, the 2012 revised edition renders Matthew 6:12 as Na fa y1n aka ky1 y1n
(And forgive us our debts), which is a true reflection of the meaning of the
text. The researcher identified some problematic translations in the New
Testament of the Asante-Twi mother tongue Bible and studied such texts
exegetically to identify the meaning of the texts as intended by the authors of
the New Testament books for the original
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