Short Note: Chichewa and Hindi Back Translations of the Bible: A Comparative Check of Translation Techniques

Abstract

The Bible in India has been seen by some as an offshoot of the missionary movement in pre- and post-independence times. Such allegations belie a technical or stylistic reading of the translated scriptures into Hindi, which is the great unread aspect of the Bible. The Bible translated into Hindi is titled Dharmasastra. The present study aims to compare the Hindi version with another translation in a completely different part of the world, the Chichewa Bible. Chichewa is a Bantu language widely spoken in SE Africa. It turns out that the Hindi translation of the Bible is surprisingly close to the Chichewa Buku Loyera translation, a fact which might motivate further comparative research into these two languages and cultural domains.