NEW FIJIAN TRANSLATION BIBLE (Nai Vola Tabu - Vakavakadewa Vou)
This project aims to publish a new and complete translation of the Holy Bible into the Fijian language (Bauan, the official dialect), the first translation since the original translations of 1864 and 1901 were published. The original translation of the Bible, from both the English Authorised Version (Cross, Cargill, Hazelwood, and Langham) and the Greek (Hunt), was progressively worked on by missionaries William Cross, David Cargill, and John Hunt (1847) and completed by David Hazelwood (1864) and Frederick Langham (1901). It was they who created a Fijian alphabet and translated and transcribed the Fijian language from being only a spoken language into a written language, for the first time in history. They were assisted by three Fijian translators: Noa Koroinavuqona, Ratu Ravisa (Elijah Varani), and Adi Litia Vatea. This original translation was a major factor contributing to the wide acceptance of Christianity in Fiji, and conversion of its people from their traditional systems and ancient gods. The “New Fijian Translation” (NFT) has been translated on the basis of a number of english language versions of the Holy Scriptures, with no single English version being solely relied upon in a literal translation, in order to best capture the interpretation of the various English idioms, grammar and nuances of meaning in the Biblical text, into their Fijian equivalents. No attempt was made to refer back to original Greek manuscripts of the New Testament in so far as thousands of manuscripts (some 5,686 odd manuscripts) are in existence, and there is no concensus among scholars as to which of them provide a sufficient basis for any translation. Thus the NFTB project fulfils the objective of pioneer missionary translator, Rev.John Hunt, to have a Fijian Bible that would express an idea “...exactly the way in which a native [Fijian] would express it, if he had the idea in his own mind”. The new translation is the first to be completed by a project team comprising only indigenous Fijians, and the first Fijian translation to be made available on-line, and progressively in hardcopy at no cost. * Exclusion the word “Kalougata”, which we contend has been mis-translated to convey the meaning of "blessing", from English to Fijian in the scriptures * Numerous other changes including:-
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