Adding a Cubit to Bible Understanding: A Study of Notes in the Chinese Union Version Bible and the Sigao Bible

Abstract

The note as a paratextual element has played an important role in Bible translation. This article collects the translational notes from the New Testament in the Chinese Protestant Union Version Bible (CUV) and the Chinese Catholic Sigao Bible (SBV) to uncover the ideological leanings of translators as well as the types and functions of translational notes in these versions. With a quantitative and qualitative analysis of eight selected notes, the article shows that: (1) CUV followed the “without note or comment” principle for unbiased comments and thus employed more linguistic notes, but SBV followed the Catholic tradition in writing exegetical comments; (2) the notes help readers understand the reasons for textual variations and the problem of selectivity in translating; and (3) CUV translators took account of the Chinese literati’s taste, whereas SBV aimed to reach the common people. Further research is needed for a more in-depth interpretation.