Lost in Translation… Bring it Back in Color
One of the most inspiring sessions of BibleTech08 was Bob MacDonalds presentation on Micro and Macro patterns in the Psalms. In his presentation he used color to try and emphasize the patterns that he was seeing in the text.
As someone who has been exposed to the interpretation of the original Biblical languages, there is a frequent lament that goes that goes something like this: our English translations are often incapable of carrying through some of the nuances present in the original language. An example would be emphasis through rhyming words. I imagine that rhyming words in Hebrew may not always be able to translated with corresponding rhyming words in English. So the translators are left with a choice: do I translated the rhyme or a more literal meaning of the word.
So this is where I began to think: what about the application of color to this problem? Nuances in the text that translators agree upon could be noted by differing background colors, thus enabling the reader to see what they can no long hear.
Would color be too distracting? I'm not sure, but I think it could complement well when the text is being read aloud, rather than just scanned with the eyes. This way, the ears can hear the words, and the eyes can see the color.
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