torah translation

[cellio]

I chanted torah this morning and, as I did last time, I translated from the scroll instead of reading it out of a chumash. This time I explicitly asked my checker to also check me on translation, which seemed to work well. I was less nervous this time but still fumbled in places; biblical Hebrew has a lot of verb-subject orderings, so when translating into English you have to read ahead sometimes. I also stumbled over "ito" (with him) and "oto" (him, direct object), which are identical without the vowels. (You have to know enough grammar to just know.)

Here is approximately my translation of the fifth aliya of Vayeishev. As before, I'm translating this fresh as I type, and no two of my renditions are exactly the same.

Faithful translation:

Genesis 39:1-6

And Yosef was taken down [1] toward Egypt and Potiphar bought him [2] -- he was a courtier of Paro, chief of stewards -- and the Egyptian bought Yosef from the Ishmaelites who brought him down there. And God was with [3] Yosef and he was a successful man [4] in the house of his lord the Egyptian. And his lord saw that God was with him and all that he did God made successful in his hand. And Yosef found favor [5] in his eyes, and he [Potiphar] gave him charge of [6] all his house, and all that was his he gave into his [Yosef's] hand. And it was from the time he charged him with his house and (upon) all that was his, God blessed the house of the Egyptian on account of Yosef, and God's blessing was on all that was his in the house and in the field. And he left all that was his in the hand of Yosef, and he did not concern himself [7] except [with] the bread [food?] he ate. And Yosef was well-built and handsome [8].

[1] Literally: was caused to go down

[2] The word order from here to the end of the verse is convoluted. Literally it's closer to "bought-him Potiphar (subject), courtier of Paro, chief of stewards, an Egyptian man, from the hand of the Ishmaelites etc". By the time we get to the "from", though, it's been a while since the verb. So I rephrased here.

[3] It doesn't really say "with", but that's the only way I can make sense of the first clause -- "vay'hi [God] et-Yosef, vay'hi ish matzliach, etc".

[4] I left unaddressed what seems a stray "vay'hi" here. That might be bad.

[5] Favor: literally "grace".

[6] Approximate; I'm taking others' word for the verb phrase here.

[7] Concern himself: literally "know with him".

[8] Well-built and handsome: totally taking a chumash's word for it on this.

More-literary translation/adaptation:

When Yosef was taken down to Egypt Potiphar, a courtier of Paro and chief of his stewards, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him there. God was with Yosef and made him a successful man in Potiphar's house. His master Potiphar saw that God was with him, and Yosef found favor in his eyes. Potiphar put Yosef in charge of all his household and made him responsible for all his property. From this time God blessed Potiphar's house on Yosef's account; God's blessing was on all of Potiphar's property, in the house and outside. Potiphar left Yosef to run his house, and he concerned himself only with the food he ate. Now Yosef was well-built and handsome.

Comments

[cellio]

Oh, I should also clarify that I'm not exactly improvising; I'm not nearly that good. I practice at home and consult outside sources where I'm unsure, and after I come up with a mental draft I then read the passage in a chumash looking for differencs. (This is part of my self-guided Hebrew education. Like homework.) But what I'm doing isn't pure memorization, either; I'm letting experience with the passage in these ways guide what I say when I translate, but when I do it I'm doing it from the sefer and not from memory. So not rote, not cold -- something in between.

I'm pretty sure my rabbi improvises his translations -- but then, you don't get to where he is without becoming awfully familiar with Hebrew and torah. :-)