Well, translating is in my blood, and from time to time I even do it
professionally…

Having had a classical education (Gymnasium in Holland), at the Gymnasium
Erasmianum in Rotterdam, I learned Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, English,
German, and of course Dutch grammar in highschool. At my final exam my
Greek teacher was all excited that my translation of Homer was good enough
to be published. After high school I even came back one year to teach
Hebrew Bible studies in collaboration with my former Hebrew teacher, from
a commentary by Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch - for as I had pointed out to
the teacher, most students were there to be able to read the Bible in the
original, not to study Theology or to study Semitic languages. Meanwhile I
went on to study Sanskrit and Comparative Linguistics at Leiden, but never
finished it. To make matters worse at various times I learned Italian,
Spanish, some smattering of Turkish, and I did a year of Japanese at the
Japan Institute in New York.

In my late teens/early twenties, I was also actively studying the language
of the Septuagint, and I ended up making a contribution to the Liddel,
Scott and Jones Greek-English dictionary. Specifically, in Gen. 2:10 the
Greek uses the word Kephaloi as a translation of Hebrew RASHIM, the
“heads” of these rivers, meaning of course “Source.” At the time LSJ
explained this usage as a new meaning, namely “source,” and I pointed out
to them that this was anachronistic, and not warranted, citing as examples
both the usage kephaloi in the Septuagint, a word which clearly means
“heads,” as well as the usage “Flussköpfe” in the Buber/Rosenzweig
Verdeutschung der Schrift, and today, when I was checking, I notice that
the Soncino Chumash which I consulted, also has “heads” for RASHIM. Thus
clearly, this was a figurative meaning of “head” for “source,” but it was
not an original meaning of the word, nor should it be translated as
“source,” if the Hebrew reader clearly had “head” as the original meaning
of the word, and “source” only as a possible figurative use. The letter of
confirmation from Oxford University Press is still somewhere in my files.

Since ‘79 I’ve lived in the US, in the greater New York area, and
presently in New York. My interest in translation in recent years has been
mostly in spirituality, and then again mostly related to A Course In
Miracles, and most recently I am completing the translation of the 3rd
book by Gary Renard (www.garyrenard.com) into Dutch. Since I’m also an
author (www.acimnthomas.com), on the Thomas Gospel and ACIM, I hope that,
subsequent to the launch of Gary’s work in Holland, I will also be able to
translate my own book into Dutch.

Part of this project was a totally new translation of Gary’s first book,
The Disappearance of the Universe, for the original translation was
terrible to the point that it said the opposite in Dutch of what it said
in English about once every other page or so. We even found a newsletter
which had published 2 reviews of Gary’s 2nd book, Your Immortal Reality
(which I had translated in 2007), but who never reviewed the first book,
and when asked why, the answer came that they could not read it. No
wonder. So now it will be interesting to see how the books take off in
Holland after a totally new launch this spring of 2009. Subsequent to
that, translating my own book into Dutch would be a real kicker.

For the rest, I consider that, before English became my 2nd first
language, German had been my 1st second language, but it’s a bit rusty now
after 30 years of little practice. But French is still active, and I get a
chance to speak it with many Haitians and West Africans in New York, as
well as some contacts in Quebec, so at least I get some practice.

Finally I am still working on a new translation and commentary of the
Gospel of Mark into English from the Greek. Evidently that falls under
personal interest/writing. On the professional side I’ve also done
translations in one case for a legal case in the commodities field,
because I used to work in shipping and commodities.

While I remain sceptical about translation software, which I consider more
often a hindrance than a help, I’ve just starting with Babylon as a
reference tool, and sofar I like it a lot for that purpose.

——–

Rogier van Vlissingen Rogier van Vlissingen was born in Jutphaas, Holland, and grew up mostly in Rotterdam, until moving to the USA in 1979. www.acimnthomas.com http://www.xanga.com/RogierFvV