I mentioned a while ago, that each week I go and help a lady with her English..She has to take some French script & translate it into English & vice versa.
She suggested that I try it! So up for the challenge, I decided to translate some of the psalms firstly from French, and then from that French, back in to English.

It's a really interesting exercise. This morning I took Psalm 61, translated it into English, then back again, and the French translation in some aspects, is a lot stronger than the English, for example

O Dieu! écoute mes cris,
Sois attentif à ma prière

(literally)
O God listen to my cries
be attentive to my prayer

NIV
Hear my cry O God
listen to my prayer.

Conduis-moi sur le rocher
que je ne puis atteindre

(literally)
lead me to the rock
that I cannot reach

NIV
lead me to the rock
that is higher than I


Interesting!Some times my French Bible uses the present tense, whereas the NIV uses the past,
for example:

Tu es pour moi un refuge

(literal)
You are for me a refuge

NIV
For you have been my refuge

It's a really good exercise, not just for the French (that goes without saying) but it makes me read it slower, and makes me think about what God is saying, and like I say, some times the French version comes out stronger(apologies to all French speakers if I have misunderstood! cos you never know!! )