Targum English Translation

Reviews

1. 

   Justin

   Rated 2 out of 5

   Reviewed on March 3, 2022

   These English Translations are probably great if you do not know Aramaic.
   But if you read the Aramaic alongside the English you will notice occasional errors and inconsistencies in the translations.

   The notes are also not accurate. E.g., in Gen. 1:1 the Targum Neofiti English note reads “McNamara looked at the original ms. and saw that the dalet was written with a second hand over an erasure and is not original”. This is not true nor an accurate quote. McNamara did not claim that the Dalet was written over an erasure but only that there was an erasure in this phrase. I looked up the manuscript ( https://digi.vatlib.it/view/MSS_Neofiti.1 ) and one can clearly see an erasure in front of the word “שכלל”, but there is no erasure under the Dalet of the word “דייי”, and the Dalet is written in the original script, not by a second hand.

   Most of the Targum English Notes are currently not linked to the Translation! Up until Judges 18:7 the notes display correctly, where after there is a flaw in every note so that they are no longer linked to the English translation.

2. 

   Justin

   Rated 2 out of 5

   Reviewed on March 8, 2022

   Here are some examples of inaccurate translation in the Targums English module:
   In Gen. 10:10 the phrase “בארעא דבבל” is inaccurately translated as “the land of Shinar.” This should really be translated as “the land of Babylon.” In Gen. 11:2 the exact same Aramaic phrase is correctly rendered as “the land of Babylon.”
   If you only read the English translation you will be deceived to think that the Aramaic is the same as the Hebrew is Gen. 10:10, but different in 11:2. But in reality the Aramaic in both these cases interpret the Hebrew text the same way. This inaccuracy means you cannot rely on this translation for study in the Targums.
   Here is another example:
   Gen. 11:3: The English translation says “let us HEAT them in the fire.” If you read only this English translation you will think that the Aramaic Targum differs from the Hebrew text by using “heat” instead of “burn.” But this is a mistranslation! The Aramaic reads: “וְנִשׂרוֹפִינוּן בְנוּרָא”, which literally means “let us BURN them in the fire” – exactly the same meaning as the Hebrew text. This means you cannot rely on this inaccurate translation if you want to know what the Aramaic targums really says.
   My conclusion is that these translations really need to be checked by a second translator, and corrected, before they will be accurate enough for people to study the Targums in English.