ではありませんか used strangely!

Japanese Language Grammar
1

Hello all,

I have been asked to do a Japanese reading for this Sunday’s Pentecost service, and the reading is from Acts 2:4: 知りもしない外国語で話し始めたではありませんか. This is translated as ‘they began speaking in a foreign language they didn’t even know’. I do not understand why there is a ではありません at the end of this sentece–how does it change the feel of it (I assume it has to change the feel somehow as the meaning seems to be the same as if you had just cut that part out). Naïvely I would have thought this said ‘they didn’t begin speaking in a foreign language they didn’t even know’.

Appreciate any help on this!

2

Well, I might be wrong, but here’s how I would parse it.

First of all, let’s look at

知りもしない外国語で話し始めた

I’d roughly translate it as

Started talking in a completely unknown foreign language

Now let’s add the ではありませんか part which I’d roughly translate as “isn’t it? / doesn’t it?”:

Didn’t they start talking in a completely unknown foreign language?

P. S.

You forgot the か particle in the end which turns it into question

3

I would have parsed this as “lets …”, or “why dont you …”. Negative statements at the end of sentences are hard and can mean all sorts of things.

4

Thank you both. In either case, it seems like a relatively eccentric translation choice.. the english doesn’t have that - it just states ‘this happened’ basically. Maybe there are some subtleties about biblical-style language or something like that..

5

Huh, interesting. Acts 2:4 in the Japanese Bible translation I’ve got is quite different - it reads すると、一同は聖霊に満たされ、御霊が語らせるままに、いろいろの他国の言葉で語り出した。

I’m not really at all familiar with Japanese translations, but Googling suggests that your translation is called the “Japanese Living Bible”, whereas mine is being identified as “JA1955”, though I dunno what JA stands for (presumably 1955 is the year it was first published).

The full verse in the JLB, for anyone wanting futher context, is:

するとどうでしょう。その場にいた人たちは、みな聖霊に満たされ、知りもしない外国語で話し始めたではありませんか。聖霊が、それだけの力を与えてくださったのです。

This context helps, because the どうでしょう sets the general tone of voice for the ではありませんか that follows. Something of a “What’s this? How can this be?” sort of thing.

6

Ah, well spotted. It looks as if the JLB is similar to the Living Bible, which is known for preferring ‘colloquial’ paraphrasing rather than very faithful translations. I’ll switch to another version, I think :slight_smile: Thank you!

7

The fun part about the “JA1955” version is that it’s written entirely in である form, which is definitely… interesting if you’re not used to it. :slightly_smiling_face: