Speaking of incongruency between languages, the one that deals the most unease for me comes from Genesis 2:9. There we are introduced to two significant trees:
生命樹 Tree of Life
分別善惡樹 Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil
Do you see the disparity here? Tree of Life gets 3 syllables in both languages. The other tree (because I’m so tired of saying its name) has 5 syllables in Chinese and 10 in English, meaning it’s roughly twice as long to pronounce in the latter for what is already a protracted name. (In case you wonder, it’s quite long in Hebrew, too.) Interpreting for this tree always gets me in trouble because I often run out of time. Sometimes I even end up biting my tongue. Or perhaps that’s the whole point? 🤔
This observation highlights the efficiency of the Chinese language, where articles and prepositions are unnecessary or optional in most cases. Case in point, the Chinese name of this tree requires no equivalent for “the”, “of”, or “and”, considerably shortening the total length and resulting in literally “Knowledge Good Evil Tree“.
What do we do about it then? I don’t really have any recommendations other than to practice. “Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil”. “Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil”. (Now say it three times fast.) Or if your conscience allows it, “Knowledge Good Evil Tree” gets the point across too. But you did not hear it from me.