BIBLE HAS BEEN TRANSLATED IN MANY LANGUAGES
Version In Maori Now Being Revised “The bible has done more for languages than any other force of man,” said the Very Rev. J. G. Laughton, C.M.G., in a talk to the Whakatane Rotary Club on Tuesday night. “The British and Foreign Bible Society has Bibles translated in over 1000 languages, and it is probable that had it not been for the Bible, the majority of these languages would not have had' a written form.”
He said that in the ,Bible was- en- . shrined all the beauty and the very best of English. It was the same in .all the various tongues it had been translated into, including Maori.
“I believe,” he added, “that,the present revision of the Maori Bible when finished will be an outstanding form of Maori.’* The Rev. Laughton gave a brief description of the Maori language. He said it is not restricted as so many people believe it to be. He had yet to come across anything he could not say in Maori. Describing the. work of translating the Bible by the revision committee, of which he is the chairman, to Maori, he remarked that it was hard but very interesting. “We find difficulty, not in How to say anything, but in what to say, as much of the English Bible is very obscure. Often we find when the Bible is translated to Maori that it is more beautiful than it’s original English.” He outlined the printing in Maori of the various parts of the Bible in New Zealand and its history from the first publication in 1837, which in his opinion, was a great date in New Zealand history.
There had been several revisions of 'the Maori Bible and the present one was being done by a committee of seven, he continued. It included the Maori scholar, Sir Apirana Ngata. The new version was being awaited with interest by the Maoris, who had contributed £3OOO to it’s cost, much of that coming from school children. “We are working on this new revision that it may help the Maori solve his problems, and also that it may help we Pakehas to help the Maori with his problems,” Mr Laughton concluded.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/BPB19481126.2.15
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Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 25, 26 November 1948, Page 5
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371BIBLE HAS BEEN TRANSLATED IN MANY LANGUAGES Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 25, 26 November 1948, Page 5
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