What language did Jesus speak?

Did Jesus spoke Hebrew or Aramaic?
During Pope Francis’ last visit to the Holy Land on 24th-26th May, a linguistic issue made an unexpected appearance in a pilgrimage described by the Pontiff as a “great grace” and an opportunity to “pray for peace” in the Middle East.

Only minutes after the first public encounter between Pope Francis and the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the latter mentioned that Jesus spoke Hebrew to be immediately corrected by the Pontiff: “He spoke Aramaic”. Netanyahu was quick to reply: “He spoke Aramaic, but he knew Hebrew as well.” This quick conversation immediately raised the attention of linguists, language experts and the Catholic religious community in general: what language did Jesus speak? Did he speak Aramaic or did he speak Hebrew? Or was he well versed in both languages?

As stated by Ghil’ad Zuckermann, an Israeli linguistics professor, Jesus was a native Aramaic speaker. However, he pointed out that Jesus would have also known Hebrew as it was the written language of Holy Scriptures and the language commonly spoken amongst the lower classes; the majority of people Jesus ministered to.

Aramaic: Jesus’ Native Language
According to Omniglot, considered the most complete resource of past and current world languages, Aramaic is a Semitic language which was the lingua franca of much of the Near East from 7th century BC to 7th century AD. It was the main language spoken by Persians, Assyrians and Babylonians and it was spread well into Greece and the Indus Valley. Jesus grew within an Aramaic speaking community so he definitely spoke this language.
Aramaic was once the main language of the Jews and appears in some of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Christian communities in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon still use it and it is also still spoken by small communities in Turkey, Iraq, Armenia, Iran, Syria and Georgia.

Will machines reach human levels of translation quality by the year 2029?

Will it be possible to rely on the accuracy of a machine translated document by the year 2029? Will human levels of translation quality be reached by machines and software programs?

Translation and interpreting services have been traditionally considered human activities with little to almost no space for technical interventions. However, technical developments in language and translation software have led translators and interpreters to assume that their job will be highly influenced by machines by the year 2029.

Language is a living entity. It’s much more than a collection of isolated words and expressions. Each language embodies a cultural background, cultural concepts and a certain level of subtlety that even the most accurate and highly trained translator cannot translate perfectly.

human-vs-MACHINE

In the video below, Mr. Ray Kurzweil –a well-known inventor, author and futurist- points out that translators and interpreters should embrace language-related technology advancements as a means of expanding their translating and interpreting abilities. No machine will ever be able to capture the subtlety in all languages as many expressions simply cannot be translated isolated and without context. He adds that even though there’s a natural resistance against translation machines, the truth is that the translated documents, both verbal and written, that they produce tend to get better and sound more natural over time. He accepts that machine translators may not be useful to translate romantic sentiments or more poetic forms but they are actually adequate for translating business discussions and everyday conversations.

According to Ray Kurzweil, when these technologies are first introduced, they tend not to work very well and people tend to dismiss them. They are perfected; they improve their performance and sneak up on us, and even though they seem revolutionary, they’ve been around for years already.

However, Kurzweil is cautious and emphasizes that translation technologies will not replace human translators and interpreters. By the year 2029, machines will be able to provide human levels of translation quality in certain type of translations and in certain translation fields but people’s need to learn foreign languages in order to enjoy and understand a literary piece in its source language or the need to rely on a professional translator to understand the meaning of a poetic writing will not be altered.

In a globalized world, accurate translation services are in great demand even if the economic context is not the best one. Translation companies can and should take advantage of translation technologies as they become available as they are useful tools that help them be ready for globalization and provide their clients with expanded language services.

Ray Kurzweil on Translation Technology from Nataly Kelly on Vimeo.

Translation events in June and July

translation-events-june-july-1411

International Conference on E-learning in the Workplace, ICELW, New York City, New York USA

12

Law and Translation: An Unbreakable Alliance. Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Setting “American Style” Customer Service Standards for Your Language Business, Globalization and Localization Association, webinar.

13

LTC4 2014, East China University of Political Science and Law, Shanghai, China.

16

EAMT 2014, European Association for Machine Translation, Dubrovnik, Croatia

19

The eBay Machine Translation Initiative: Localization Team Report. Mountain View, California, USA

21-22

25th Japanese-English Translation Conference. Tokyo, Japan.

14

Crowdsourcing and Outsourcing Translation QE, TAUS, webinar

24-26

Using Corpora in Contrastive and Translation Studies. Lancaster, UK.

27

SDL TRADOS STUDIO 2011. NIVEL AVANZADO (2224). Buenos Aires, Argentina.

27-28

Iowa Interpreters & Translators Association (IITA). 10th Annual Conference. Des Moines, IA, USA.

28

II ENCUENTRO ARGENTINO DE TRADUCCIÓN AUDIOVISUAL. Buenos Aires, Argentina.

28-29

Proz.com: Looking Forward: Skills, Challenges and Perspectives. Pisa, Italy

July

1

Words with Bang Save Translation Bucks, The Content Wrangler, How to Write Everything, webinar

6-Aug 4

Website Translation and Localization Course, Monterey Institute of International Studies, online/ Monterey, California USA.

8

INTERPRETACIÓN EN IDIOMA ITALIANO. Buenos Aires, Argentina.

17

It’s Time For a Big Idea: The Human Language Project, The International Multilingual User Group (IMUG), San Jose, California, USA.

28-1 Aug

AIIC professional development course, International Association of Conference Interpreters, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

31-Aug 2

Arkansas Admin Office of the Courts Court Interpreter Services. Little Rock, AR, USA.

 

 

That little funny word that’s truly universal

huh-word

According to a recent study, love may be the universal language and a kiss may be a universal way of showing affection, but there’s a funny, little word that’s truly universal.

A group of Dutch researches traveled round the world and interacted with native speakers of 10 different languages both in large cities and small villages. They recorded the conversations and to their surprise they discovered that, despite the fact that all the languages were different, they all shared one word: “Huh?”

“Huh?” is an interjection used by people when they don’t understand what someone has just said and needs the last word or phrase to be repeated. Major languages as different from one another as Spanish, Dutch, Islandic, Mandarin Chinese, Italian and minor languages spoken in Laos, Thailand, Ecuador, Ghana, Cambodia or Australia all had this little word in common.

Why such a huge buzz around such a little word?: The “Huh?” Factor

Carrying such an extensive research on such a little word may seem trivial but, in fact, it’s very important. “Huh?” along with other little words such as “Sorry” or “What?” play an important role in human communication, ensuring that the dialogue flows naturally between the speakers and that they fully understand what the other is saying. Thus, these words are essential communication tools that help us let others know when we have problems understanding or hearing what was said.

“Huh?”, “Sorry” or “What?” are much more than signals or involuntary responses. They only function within a well established system of communication. In fact, despite the logical variations in the different languages the “Huh?” sound remains the same.