One definition of translation is "The act or process of translating, esp. from one language to another."(The American Heritage Dictionary [Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., Second College Edition, 1985], 1,287). In the 1828 Webster's Dictionary one of the meanings under the word translate is, "To interpret; to render into another language; to express the sense of one language in the words of another." (An American dictionary of the English Language [New York: S. Converse, 1828] What is known about Joseph Smith's used of the English KJV is that he explained in English what he was trying to convey to his audience. The KJV Bible was Smith's base text for the ideas and wording of his "translations." The Book of Mormon, Bible Revision and Book of Abraham were "translated" as Joseph Smith made frequent use of biblical texts. The English Bible was his standard text when writing English scriptures.

Before Joseph Smith dictated a translation he worked on an alphabet . The best example is the "Egyptian Alphabet" in the LDS archives. This work is not a correct alphabet but it shows that Smith believed he had the ability to decipher characters from the Egyptian language.

No matter how it is claimed Joseph Smith made a translation it is essential to know that one cannot make a translation from a foreign language unless there is a working knowledge of two languages. A person needs to know the language from which he or she is translating from and the words of the language into it is desired to render the interpretation.

Dictating religious texts as Joseph Smith did was best accomplished by saying that God revealed the basic thought to him and he put the ideas into the English language as best he knew. The way it is claimed that Smith revealed ancient writings was said to have been inspired. Below are examples of different writings that Smith produced:

Parchment of John

A revelation concerning John the beloved deciple [disciple]

And the Lord said unto me John my beloved, what desirest thou[?] And I said Lord give unto me power that I may bring souls unto thee, and the Lord said unto me verily I say unto thee becau[se] thou desirest this; thou shalt tarry till I come in my glory

and for this cause the Lord said unto Peter if I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee[?] for he desirest of me that he might bring souls unto me, but thou desirest that thou might speedely come unto me in my kingdom I say unto thee Peter this was a good desire, But my beloved hath undertaken a greater work;

verily I say unto you ye shall both have according to your desires for ye hath Joy in th[at] which ye have desired &c &c &c

The Book of Commandments has in its heading: "they [Smith and Cowdery] desired to know whether John, the beloved disciple, tarried on earth. Translated from parchment, written and hid up by himself [John]." There is no evidence that the ancient manuscript was physically present for Smith to translate. A revelation was given to him concerning the essence of the hidden text. See John 21:20-24. If the reported parchment was written in Greek and hid away no one could check whether it was translated correctly. Besides this ancient parchment was not in the possession of Joseph Smith.

Book of Mormon

Reformed Egyptian is mentioned in LDS Mormon 9:32. The title page states, "To come forth by the gift and power of God unto the interpretation thereof." The explanation usually but not always given is that the Book of Mormon was translated by the Urim and Thummim.

Joseph Smith's earliest account states that he received the words or read them through spectacles. His 1832 account records that "the Lord had prepared spectacles for to read the Book" (Dean C. Jessee, ed., The Papers of Joseph Smith: Autobiographical and Historical Writings [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1989], 1:9).

The term Urim and Thummim is a post-1829 development and is not mentioned in the Book of Mormon. Over time it replaced spectacles, stone(s), and interpreters. The following are some early statements on how the Book of Mormon was claimed to be "translated." Early stories mention that an object was put in a hat and Smith interpreted or read the words from what appeared in the hat.

The idea to discover or interpret things by looking in a hat was the way Joseph Smith developed into one who could locate hidden treasures and also discover the meaning of a lost language without the object actually being in his presence.

The Book of Mormon told about its production: "And blessed be he [Joseph Smith, Jr.] that shall bring this thing to light; for it shall be brought out of darkness unto light, according to the word of God; yea, it shall be brought out of the earth, and it shall shine forth out of darkness, and come unto the knowledge of the people; and it shall be done by the power of God" (LDS Mormon 8:16).

King Mosiah translated some plates "by the means of those two stones which were fastened into the two rims of a bow. Now these things were prepared from the beginning, and were handed down from generation to generation, for the purpose of interpreting languages" (LDS Mosiah 28:13-14).

The claim was that the spectacles were to be used to read the inscriptions on the plates, "wherefore thou shalt read the words which I shall give unto thee" (LDS 2 Nephi 27:20).

Abram W. Benton of South Bainbridge, New York, wrote concerning a court appearance in July 1830:

Oliver Cowdery, one of the three witnesses to the book, testified under oath, that said Smith found with the plates, from which he translated his book, two transparent stones, resembling glass, set in silver bows. That by looking through these, he was able to read in English, the reformed Egyptian characters, which were engraved on the plates" (Letter of A.W.B. [Abram W. Benton], dated March 1831, in Evangelical Magazine and Gospel Advocate 2 [9 April 1831]:120, Utica, New York).

Josiah Jones described the visit of four missionaries who arrived in Kirtland, Ohio near the end of October 1830 and they said that the Book of Mormon "was found about three years ago by a man named Joseph Smith Jr. who had translated it by looking into a stone or two stones, when put into a dark place, which stones he said were found in the box with the plates. They affirmed while he looked through the stone spectacles another sat by and wrote what he told them, and thus the book was all written" (The Evangelist 9 [June 1841] as cited in Brigham Young University Studies 12 [Spring 1972]:308).

LDS Apostle James E. Talmage wrote:

It is noticeable that we make no reservation respecting the Book of Mormon on the ground of incorrect translation. To do so would be to ignore attested facts as to the bringing forth of that book. Joseph Smith the prophet, seer and revelator, through whom the ancient record has been translated into our modern tongue, expressly avers that the translation was effected through the gift and power of God, and is in no sense the product of linguistic scholarship (Liahona: The Elders' Journal 15 [23 Oct. 1917]:261, Independence, MO).

This means that what is represented as Mormon's book - the Book of Mormon - is not a product of Joseph Smith's linguistic ability. Joseph Smith produced a text with no knowledge of an ancient language.

Bible Revision

In the early years of the ministry of Joseph Smith he worked on a revision or correction of the KJV Bible. The text was in English. Joseph Smith did not know Hebrew or Greek and like many of his contemporaries made his own "translation" of the scriptures. The 1828 KJV Bible that was used and the handwritten manuscripts are preserved in the RLDS archives. This work represents Joseph Smith's concern with the Bible. The revisions and additional material represents Smith's commentary. It does not restore the ancient Hebrew or Greek text.

Book of Abraham

Joseph Smith used some of his ideas that were developed in his "Egyptian Alphabet" and the KJV to produce the text for the "Book of Abraham" in 1835. Later in 1842 when he dictated more of the text he still used material from KJV Genesis to write part of the story concerning Abraham and the creation account. At this point in his theological thinking he believed in a plurality of Gods. This scripture contains three Egyptian drawings. Two of the drawings are published as complete documents though it is certain that the originals were damaged and had parts missing from the drawings. The head of the Egyptian Anubus (Figure 6) in Facsimile No. 3 was incorrectly reproduced. Joseph Smith interpreted the figure as a slave. These three facsimilies have never been lost and relate to Egyptian belief in the afterlife.

No one translates a real language by looking at a seer stone or spectacles in a hat. To translate a person needs to correctly know the language he or she is translating. There is no shortcut method to spending the time to learn a language before making a translation. The fact is if you do not know the language you cannot translate