Comments on: The American inverted comma and me http://bycommonconsent.com/2007/12/17/the-american-inverted-comma-and-me/ A Mormon Blog Mon, 28 May 2012 20:53:36 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: queuno http://bycommonconsent.com/2007/12/17/the-american-inverted-comma-and-me/#comment-56842 Wed, 19 Dec 2007 06:03:45 +0000 http://www.bycommonconsent.com/2007/12/the-american-inverted-comma-and-me/#comment-56842 I guess one could make the argument that since the Gold Plates were translated into English, English the source language for all future translations of the Book of Mormon (we would use it to translate the BoM into Klingon, for example).

And someone has made the comment before (can’t remember which blog) that GC translation is easier if we assume all speakers speak English (although, I think that’s a weak excuse, especially since texts can be submitted in advance).

And I know that we routinely encourage foreign missionaries to learn English, but I have always felt that was more to aid their economic development than to prepare them for higher Church callings.

To me, it’s just too Anglo-centric to assume that since Joseph Smith was a native English speaker, we will always be a primarily English church.

I still find the Book of Mormon to be much prettier in Spanish. I find the evangelist preacher’s exhortations to have a different emotional weight in Spanish. In fact, I find the Book of Mormon generally without a certain emotion, unless I read it in Spanish. (And it’s not just because of my mission. I was fluent in Spanish long before my mission.) There are certain turns of phrase that sound forced in English but flow like water in Spanish.

What if Joseph Smith had been a québécois relocated to Upstate New York? Would the language of the restoration be a pidgin French-English hybrid?

]]> By: Ray http://bycommonconsent.com/2007/12/17/the-american-inverted-comma-and-me/#comment-56841 Wed, 19 Dec 2007 05:33:54 +0000 http://www.bycommonconsent.com/2007/12/the-american-inverted-comma-and-me/#comment-56841 Nice, queuno.

]]> By: queuno http://bycommonconsent.com/2007/12/17/the-american-inverted-comma-and-me/#comment-56840 Wed, 19 Dec 2007 05:04:12 +0000 http://www.bycommonconsent.com/2007/12/the-american-inverted-comma-and-me/#comment-56840 English is the language of the Restoration.

Which English-only speaking General Authority said this, Ray? Perhaps the Lord is waiting our linguistic awakening before unveiling the additional precepts.

]]> By: queuno http://bycommonconsent.com/2007/12/17/the-american-inverted-comma-and-me/#comment-56839 Wed, 19 Dec 2007 04:35:22 +0000 http://www.bycommonconsent.com/2007/12/the-american-inverted-comma-and-me/#comment-56839 De repente, todos hablaremos en el lenguaje de Dios (come ya dijo Bruce).

]]> By: deb http://bycommonconsent.com/2007/12/17/the-american-inverted-comma-and-me/#comment-56838 Wed, 19 Dec 2007 00:53:00 +0000 http://www.bycommonconsent.com/2007/12/the-american-inverted-comma-and-me/#comment-56838 Thanks! Son loves his current tiny branch, so I hope he’ll be there a while, but your offer is noted happily!

]]> By: Rebecca http://bycommonconsent.com/2007/12/17/the-american-inverted-comma-and-me/#comment-56837 Tue, 18 Dec 2007 20:50:28 +0000 http://www.bycommonconsent.com/2007/12/the-american-inverted-comma-and-me/#comment-56837 Deb – Ronan and I are in the Birmingham mission. Be sure to tell him if he ever comes to Worcester Ward, to make himself known to us!

]]> By: MCQ http://bycommonconsent.com/2007/12/17/the-american-inverted-comma-and-me/#comment-56836 Tue, 18 Dec 2007 18:46:46 +0000 http://www.bycommonconsent.com/2007/12/the-american-inverted-comma-and-me/#comment-56836 Norbert! I had completely forgotten Love American Style. What a blast from the past. I used to sneak out of bed to watch that stupid show as a kid. Yes, Ronan, you definitely must embrace that.

]]> By: deb http://bycommonconsent.com/2007/12/17/the-american-inverted-comma-and-me/#comment-56835 Tue, 18 Dec 2007 18:13:59 +0000 http://www.bycommonconsent.com/2007/12/the-american-inverted-comma-and-me/#comment-56835 Ronan, son’s in Birmingham mission, currently in Wales, somewhere. I tried to read a local news site online, but the language made it tough for me to get through a sentence, much less make sense of the article. Maybe spelling is not the main issue…?

]]> By: MattG http://bycommonconsent.com/2007/12/17/the-american-inverted-comma-and-me/#comment-56834 Tue, 18 Dec 2007 16:47:15 +0000 http://www.bycommonconsent.com/2007/12/the-american-inverted-comma-and-me/#comment-56834 Ronan,

You’re not alone in this. There are plenty of Utah/southern Idaho-centric stories in the Friend to make the rest of us here in the USA sigh each month. One request, however, please have your military start pronouncing “lieutenant” properly. You don’t have people offering replacements “in leff of” other things over there do you?

]]> By: bfwebster http://bycommonconsent.com/2007/12/17/the-american-inverted-comma-and-me/#comment-56833 Tue, 18 Dec 2007 15:42:52 +0000 http://www.bycommonconsent.com/2007/12/the-american-inverted-comma-and-me/#comment-56833 Actually, Spanish is set to become the ‘majority language’ of the Church sometime in the next several years, so we should all adopt Spanish. Hey, wait, I already know Spanish! Cool! :-) Next question? ..bruce..

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