Interesting translation error in the Apostolic Exhortation pointed out by Phil Lawler. The English version said that some people defend the position that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness. This made the pope look silly and very hostile to the market (silly because nobody takes that position - certainly with the word inevitably inserted in it - as the Economist said, there is nowhere more inclusive than North Korea). The Spanish version has the words by itself instead of inevitably and equity instead of justice. Worrying that the translator would see justice as a translation of equity but, also, the criticism of the market is rather less strong with the words by itself. These translation errors are normal. In Caritas in veritate, the English version called for a United Nations with real teeth. All other translations called for a body with a real and concrete form. There is a PhD thesis to be done on the mistranslations of phrases with economic and political consequences in social encyclicals. As Phil Lawler says, the mistranslations always have the same implications from an ideological perspective
Posted on: Fri, 29 Nov 2013 00:04:35 +0000
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