Ronald Witherup's The Challenges Of Biblical Translation

Translations cannot provide a complete, accurate translation of a biblical text; each translation is an interpretation of the original. You cannot accurately translate a piece of work as there will be changes due to languages and culture. Ronald Witherup argues in his article The Challenges of Biblical Translation. Ronald argues that there is an interpretation in translation. There will be a loss, gain or change in the work . the translator is influenced by their intended audience, time period and culture. They can only attempt to recreate the original biblical texts in the same manner to allow the reader to be able to interpret the texts in a context that is relevant and coherent to their lives.
Language is one of the ways in which the translation is altered as not all words from one language will appear in another. An example is the translation of the Hebrew word Almah which can mean either young girl or virgin based on the context of the sentence and text. When the word was translated from Hebrew into Greek the translator took the word to mean virgin. The passage Isaiah 7:14 in Both the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible
A translation of a text will be based on the culture of both the translator and the audience. Each culture has symbols and language that are relevant to them. Eugene Nida sates that the way in which a text is written or spoken is distinctive to the culture. It is the culture that determines the way a text will be translated. Witherup uses the examples of the animals that are used in translations are based on the culture of the translator to allow the audience to appreciate the text. He states that the image of sheep would do not work as well for the African tribes as cattle do.
Therefore no translation if accurate as both language and culture influence the translator to provide an interpretation that their audience is able to collect meaning