Biblical Translations: Then & Now

Language is a living creature that changes each and every day. With new words being added to the dictionary every year (2011: bromance, tweet, social media; http://www.merriam-webster.com/info/newwords11.htm), language itself has no choice but to follow suit in the never-ending cat and mouse race that is progress. So too, did the Word of God have to undergo frequent changes in order to stay relevant. While some people prefer the King James Version (KJV), most of us prefer a newer translation for our everyday bible reading, such as the New King James Version (NKJV), New International Version (NIV), or the New Living Translation (NLT). 

Translations are kept, scrapped, revised and rewritten in order to stay within the confines of the current culture. In the article "Plastic Meaning: How changes in language over time affect Bible translations", it explains how words and their meaning have been twisted and effectively changed through time and public influence. The article explains it using just the word 'awesome' as an example:

"All one needs to do is look at the overuse (and neutering) of the word “awesome” over the past few decades to see how quickly our language changes. “Awesome” has been used in my presence to describe everything from a sandwich to football. Somehow calling God awesome these days doesn’t carry the weight that it once did."

Why are there so many translations within the same era of language? The answer: personal preference. In order to stay relevant and still appeal to large and different groups of people,the Word has to be in different flavors. Some people feel more comfortable with an NIV (myself included) that they would with a paraphrase like The Message.

Either way, apart from being a very smart business strategy, new translations and iterations of the same Word of God are a necessary adage to the original, if only to stay relevant and current in a volatile and constantly changing world.

Effect of Language Changes on Sacred Texts

Language evolves, that is a fact of civilization. In George Orwell's 1984, newspeak is the only language that shrinks, and it shrinks due to the government control and interference in people's lives. Unless language is allowed to thrive and grow freely, civilization itself becomes stunted, both culturally and educationally. Granted, some language evolution, such as modern ones, might not be beneficial to the culture  , it is extremely influential to the people. Language has been evolving since the beginning of mankind.
During my research (thank you Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_change), I have found several kinds of language evolutions:
1. Lexical Changes (Vocabulary and Expressions)
2. Phonetic Changer (Sounds and Pronunciation)
3. Spelling Changes (self-explanatory, e.g. e-mail is now officially email)
4. Semantic Change (Word Usage)


These changes are being undergone by all languages at all times, for they are constantly used in different ways. The Hebrew that was spoken during biblical time is not the Hebrew they speak today. Of course they have tons of similarities, but the language has evolved. Think about the language shift English has experienced since medieval times. Heck, English has changed drastically since the Civil War. If languages themselves are so affected by these inevitable and necessary changes, how much more has the Word of God been impacted by them?