ABSTRACT
In the translation of non-European languages, the chief translators were often non-mother-tongue speakers attempting to learn as adults the culture of the potential audience. Disciplines such as sociolinguistics, text analysis and pragmatics were in rudimentary stages of development; context-free analysis at the clause level and lower was the main focus of linguists. Biblicists were giving relatively little attention to the literary unity of the canonized texts and the voices of interpreters from countries that were not technologically and economically dominant were hardly heard. This chapter indicates communicational, academic, socio-political, ecclesiastical and technological developments since that era have affected perspectives and practices concerning Bible translation. Functional equivalence can be used to refer to approaches to translation that attempt to better take into account the various communicative functions of language, not just the informative function. Literary functional equivalence is the preferred approach of many Bible translators, applied in varying degrees and often appreciated by the intended audiences.
