1st paragraph of the Bible

English:

(1)In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (2) Now
the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the
deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. (3) And God
said, "Let there be light," and there was light. (4) God saw that the
light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. (5) God
called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there
was evening, and there was morning-the first day.

Spanish:

(1) En el principio, Dios creó el cielo y la tierra. (2) Ahora la tierra no tenía forma y estaba vacio, la oscuridad estaba sobre la superficie del océano, y el espiritu de Dios estaba rondando sobre los mares. (3) Y Dios dijo, 'permite la luz existir' y haya luz. (4) Dios vio que la luz estaba bueno y separó la luz de la oscuridad. (5) Dios nombró la luz, "el dia," y nombró la oscuridad "la noche." Y haya noche y haya mañana el primero dia.

It was interesting to have to translate something so common as the beginning of the bible. I found myself having to contemplate how to best translate something and trying not to lose the intended of the English version. Such conflicts arose such as the earth being formless in English and yet in Spanish I described the earth has not having form. I had to change the adjective in English into something more active for the Spanish version. Another word was the "deep" in English which is relatively ambiguous even in English. I interpreted that as the depths of the ocean and thus translated that. Another interesting translation was the "let there be light." One of the most famous lines, it cannot quite translate directly and I chose instead to say "allow light to exist." For the most part, the main message can still be conveyed through this translation; however, this small exercise alone shows how representing complex ideas in different languages can become tricky.