Introductory Note

In a scene of the 1993 film “Being Human,” Robin

Williams, in the guise of a sort of everyman, encounters and

falls deeply in love with a young woman (Anna Galiena)

somewhere in the European Alps. Nothing unusual in that: it

happens all the time. The relationship is made somewhat

unusual by the fact that the woman speaks a language he

does not understand. The point made in that scene is that

love transcends language barriers. Nothing particularly odd

in that, either. What is truly remarkable is that the movie

chose to use a language that—except for its sweet sounds—

would be sure to be total gibberish to audiences everywhere.

The chosen language was Friulian.

Now it is not true that Friulian is unintelligible to everyone.

In fact, it is understood by perhaps several hundred thousand

people in the northeasternmost corner of Italy, known as

Friuli. What is true is that the number of people who

actually speak the language appears to be diminishing—and

fast. There is an evolutionary process at work that is not

kind to small languages like Friulian: they tend to be

gobbled up by the much bigger and successful languages

like Italian. My translation of The Gospel of Matthew,

therefore, can be seen as an attempt, even if very small, to

slow down or delay a process that may ultimately be

inevitable. Much the same can be said of my other

translations.

But my translation of this Gospel goes beyond that. It is an

attempt to answer an intriguing question. Jesus and the

people who followed him were simple people and spoke the

language of simple people, of fishermen and vineyard

workers. We can grant that the language of most translations

of the Gospel of Matthew—and indeed of the whole Bible—

is simple enough; but we all know that its simplicity has the

extraordinary elegance that speaks of sophistication. The

King James version is not the only one to fit that category.

Friulian, instead—especially the Friulian of my translation

(used in some of the poetry of Pasolini)—is truly the

language of the people: tillers of the soil, vineyard

workers—that sort. What better way can there therefore be

to know how Jesus and his disciples truly expressed

themselves than to hear them speak in the simple, lowly

Friulian?