ARE YOU READY FOR THIS?

this head's up has been around in the blogosphere for days now. i read the translations, so i might as well publish my thoughts on them.

first, it is significant that the new translation is more faithful to the original latin. i like that it manifests clearly the humble stance of supplication the celebrant ought to be take rather than the rather isolent tone of the current translation. the language expresses a more reverential tone thus highlights futher divine majesty.

next, the new translation exposes more the richness of the language and imagery used in the original latin. although there are some parts where the effect was the opposite, like the rendering of "dignum et iustum est." i guess this is where transliteration fails. i like its current translation more.

speaking of transliteration, i think its main drawback manifest itself in how the new text tends to be a pseudo tongue twister rather than a melodic tapestry of language. indeed translators need to fix this. the current translation has managed to acquire a sing-song quality. it would be a plus to the new translation if it could attain a more lyrical tone. the liturgy in itself is poetic already, so why not intergrate them?

more to come later.