: Il Vanzeli di Mateo by - Bible. Gospels

@FreeBooks

Posted in: #FreeBooks #FreeBooksIndia #FreeBooksApp #gg

Vote Up Vote Down   0 Reactions

Login to give Reaction!

Copyright 2007 by Ermes Culos.

Il Vanzeli di Mateo

Friulian Translation by Ermes Cul?s

Copyright Ermes Cul?s. All rights reserved 2007

Introductory Note

In a scene of the 1993 film ?Being Human,? Robin Williams, in the guise of a sort of everyman, encounters and falls deeply in love with a young woman somewhere in the European Alps. Nothing unusual in that: it happens all the time. The relationship is made somewhat unusual by the fact that the woman speaks a language he does not understand. The point made in that scene is that love transcends language barriers. Nothing particularly odd in that, either. What is truly remarkable is that the movie chose to use a language that?except for its sweet sounds? would be sure to be total gibberish to audiences everywhere. The chosen language was Friulian.

Now it is not true that Friulian is unintelligible to everyone. In fact, it is understood by perhaps several hundred thousand people in the northeasternmost corner of Italy, known as Friuli. What is true is that the number of people who actually speak the language appears to be diminishing?and fast. There is an evolutionary process at work that is not kind to small languages like Friulian: they tend to be gobbled up by the much bigger and successful languages like Italian. My translation of The Gospel of Matthew, therefore, can be seen as an attempt, even if very small, to slow down or delay a process that may ultimately be inevitable. Much the same can be said of my other translations.

But my translation of this Gospel goes beyond that. It is an attempt to answer an intriguing question. Jesus and the people who followed him were simple people and spoke the language of simple people, of fishermen and vineyard workers. We can grant that the language of most translations of the Gospel of Matthew?and indeed of the whole Bible? is simple enough; but we all know that its simplicity has the extraordinary elegance that speaks of sophistication. The King James version is not the only one to fit that category.

Friulian, instead?especially the Friulian of my translation ?is truly the language of the people: tillers of the soil, vineyard workers?that sort. What better way can there therefore be to know how Jesus and his disciples truly expressed themselves than to hear them speak in the simple, lowly Friulian?

I like to think that my translation offers that opportunity.

Ermes Cul?s Ashcroft February 2007

Pronunciation guide for readers of Friulian

Free books android app tbrJar TBR JAR Read Free books online gutenberg

(0)

Login to post a comment!