[sword-devel] The penultimate word on the "PorAA" module Portuguese Bible

Sun Jun 18 10:52:51 MST 2006

	I am writing yet because Chris did not seem convinced PorAA is
Revisada, but I guess with his findings and Jonatas' that should be
quite clear now.

      	It does not matter much now that the module was taken offline,
but I will follow up with IBB and try to get permission, case in which
my module will come handy.

Em Wed, 31 May 2006 14:59:00 +0100, Jónatas Ferreira escreveu:

> Em 2006/05/31, às 06:42, Chris Little escreveu:
> 
> No, Leandro affirms that the text comes from other source, not ARA  
> (Revista e Atualizada) but from AVR (Versão Revisada). And it's not  
> from SBB but from IBB (JUERP).

   	Yes, thanks for getting it right.  I was despairing!  ;-)

> My greek's professor's opinion (Pastor Prof. Dr. Manuel Alexandre  
> Júnior): "It's different. (...) It's better than ARA or ARC."

  	Exactly, the VR is considered the best text in Brazil
nowadays, not being better known because JUERP, who owns IBB, nearly
went bankrupt and is going thru a very slow recuperation.

     	The coordinator of NVI (our NIV), Luís Alberto Teixeira SAYÃO,
is coordinating too a new edition of VR (Almeida Seculo XXI), that
should be the definitive Almeida before we finally get a decent modern
language version.  But neither part of that may come to pass, as IBB
has a history of bad reachout to the market, and as Brazilian dialects
are becoming too fragmented (bad basic education being the cause) to
make a decent, unified translation possible.

> So I asked him to compare it with Versão Revisada (curiosity: that
> version is, generally, considered better). I'm waiting for him to
> answer me.

  	Any answer already?

> He is an authority in Bible translation here in Portugal and he is  
> even recognized around the world.

    	I generally dislike the resource to authority, but given the
situation it might come handy.

> About PorAA he said to me: "I'm not aware of any Almeida's revision
> called Almeida Atualizada."

  	Just what I have been saying.

> I've been comparing the text myself (I discovered that I own a hard  
> copy of  Revista e Corrigida, Revista e Atualizada, Versão  
> Contemporânea and Versão Revisada; and an eText of Corrigida Fiel and  
> Trinitarian Bible Society's revision).

  	Do the editors of Corrigida Fiel and Trinitarian's claim copy
rights on their texts?  They probably do, but I ask anyway because
they are catering for TR (Majority, KJV) adherents, some of whom
dislike copy rights when it comes to translations.  So while I have
little sympathy to that position, if we are unable to obtain IBB's
permission it may be useful to have another Almeida, even if we
publish Tradução Brasileira.

	By the way, I just arrived from the Sunday service and I found
out a brother says he thinks he has SBB's Bíblia Online.  He is quite
computer savy, and I asked him to export TB from his software if he
can find out a way to do that.  So that would be a first step.

> I also asked Pastor Alexandre to do the same for me. I'm waiting for
> his opinion. So far I didn't find a single difference except for the
> missing text.

  	I don't think we have to wait further, but still it would be
nice.

> I think that everyone went to the same source and now everyone is  
> distributing the same text, with the same errors: Unbound,  
> BibleGateway and Crosswire.

  	Yes, that is quite obvious.  Also obvious is the reason:
before nearly going bankrupt in the late 1990s, IBB licensed Revisada
widely, with little or no copy prevention.  Some bootleg copy, already
corrupted, was renamed either by mistake or by ignorance, and someone
quite naïve about copy rights spread it.

     	I would be curious about whom it was, because we got quite a
headache, and it has cost us several years in getting a Portuguese
text out.  Even if only know I have the knowledge necessary to
actually do something.

> I spoke today with the president from the Portuguese Bible Society  
> (SBP) and he told me that the only versions of Almeida that are  
> Public Domain are the ones prior to 1920's decade.

  	He is probably right, but do not take that number as an
absolute rule.  Someone else already explained it here, but for
example, the 1917 TB had in its translating commission someone who
lived until 1941, all the other having already have gone.  So it
entered the public domain 1992 Jan. the 1st, before the new 1998 law
which extended everything by 20 years.

> The others have copyrights because each time SBP or SBB or IBB
> (JUERP) made a new edition they made a few changes and renewed the
> copyright. So, the most recent copy of Revista e Corrigida that is
> Public Domain is the one from (if I remeber right) 1918.

  	Would such a text exist already in electronic form?  Even if
we should concentrate in TB, it would be nice to have any Almeida if
we can't get VR.

> The "Almeida Versão Revisada" doesn't have an ISBN (many of the  
> brazilian books I own don't have one; in fact, just talking about  
> Bibles, I own 3 copies of brazilian editions of Almeida's Revision  
> Bibles and only one has an ISBN).

  	Yes, ISBNs only caught up here in late 1970s, early 1980s, and
later still in the evangelical market and even later in case of
problematic printing houses such as IBB.

> A can scan you some pages if you want.

    	Technically we need IBB's permission, but I already did the
same offer and no one took it.

> Certificado de Registo nº 23.947 BN (Registration Certificate
> nr. 23.947 BN) — BN probably means Biblioteca Nacional (National
> Library).

	Yes, all new books should have two copies sent to the
Biblioteca Nacional in Rio de Janeiro.  Few do, thumbs up to IBB for
that.

-- 
Leandro Guimarães Faria Corcete DUTRA     +55 (11) 5685 2219
http://br.geocities.com./lgcdutra/        +55 (11) 9406 7191
mailto:leandro at dutra.fastmail.fm
xmpp:leandrod at jabber.org                              BRASIL