Login or register (free and only takes a few minutes) to participate in this question.
You will also have access to many other tools and opportunities designed for those who have language-related jobs (or are passionate about them). Participation is free and the site has a strict confidentiality policy.
15:58 Oct 13, 2009
German to English translations [PRO] Religion
German term or phrase:Buch der Bücher
A non-ProZ translator translated this as "book of Books," but (ignore the odd capitalization) can't I just translate this as "the Bible" instead? The context is not at all pro-Christian, and calling this "the Book of Books" in English is a bit opaque and certainly makes it sound as though the person writing is himself a staunch Christian, which isn't the case at all.
Can I just call this the Bible? Nothing else is intended here, is there? I apologize if this question is too obvious .Here's the context, for what it's worth:
"Er sollte lieber Börsenkurse und Wetterprognosen rückwärts ausfagen, als sich dergestalt am Buch der Bücher zu vergreifen, von dem er wahrscheinlich nicht einmal die ihn bestätigenden Aussagen kennt."
Thanks, EdithK! I'm not sure how the Bible has "nothing to do with Christianity," but that's another matter. I appreciate your answer. 4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer
I'm still not convinced a neutral "the Bible" isn't the best answer for this context, since Buch der Bücher seems like an incredibly common name for the Bible in German (much more so than "the Good Book" in English). But I'm still open to being convinced.
He is definitely defending the Bible from ignorant wannabe Satanists who think it's novel to read its words backwards, but at the same time calling the Bible "the Book of Books" in English is rare enough that it is both opaque and misleading, I think. If "Buch der Bücher" is a common substitute for "Bibel" in German, that's definitely not the case in English ("the Good Book" is relatively common, but then also used generally by devout Christians, though that phrase being used ironically would be clearer at least than "the Book of Books"). Thanks for all your input so far!
As Bernd say, you got it the wrong way round, it seems. The speaker isn't putting down the Bible, on the contrary. He/She is defending it against the apparently ignorant comments of a third party.
Die Aussage scheint schon von einem "sehr bekennenden" Christen und Bibelkenner gemacht worden zu sein. Für ihn/sie ist es bestimmt das Buch der Bücher und nicht bloß die Bibel.
I´ve seen it often used as "Book of Books", or even as "The Good Book" in "not at all pro-Christian" context.
You should, I think, use "Book of Books", to conserve the ironic twist attached to the expression in this case.
EDIT: the capitalization in "book of Books" is both odd and wrong. If treated as a common noun, using a capital B for the second "book" makes no sense. If treated as a title or proper name, as it's supposed to be, title case should be used -- hence (The) Book of Books.
2nd EDIT: I seem to recall some very similar discussion on ProZ a few weeks ago...
Automatic update in 00:
Answers
3 mins confidence:
Bible
Explanation: in your context: definitely, the book of books is nothing else and has nothing to do with Christianity, the Old Testament is Jewish
EdithK Local time: 22:25 Native speaker of: German, English PRO pts in category: 16
Grading comment
Thanks, EdithK! I'm not sure how the Bible has "nothing to do with Christianity," but that's another matter. I appreciate your answer.
The translation workplace 
