The Italian proverb: Translators are traitors. True. You simply cannot bring across all the rhetoric, meaning, nuance and form of one language across to another.
So, again with sarx, some options:
- Translate in a way that approximates the sense for an English reader? - "sinful nature"
- Translate less interpretively, treating the word as a "technical" word that a reader will have to figure out? - "flesh" (Such as a novel about sailing. At first, you may not understand all or any of the technical terms, but eventually you'll get a 'feel' for it from the usage and context.)
So, the question is, do I think that my English speaking audience has the interest and the capacity to do the sort of work required to come to understand the technical term in its fullness and nuance.
Proverb: Never watch sausage or translations being made.
Interesting fact: Now more people who speak English as a second language than people who speak it as a first language.
The Hebrew of Proverbs 31:10
- "Woman of strength"? - too physical?
- "Woman of noble character"? - too ethical
- "Woman of excellence"? - OK, but... (went with this one)
- Kutz (But what about 'woman of nous' ?)