May 3. On this date in 1947, Shoghi Effendi wrote Adelbert Muhlschlegel "now is not the time to translate the teachings into German from Persian and Arabic. No Persian with a sufficient expert knowledge of German is available to help in this matter...These you can better translate from good English editions."

May 3. On this date in 1947, Shoghi Effendi wrote Adelbert Muhlschlegel "now is not the time to translate the teachings into German from Persian and Arabic. No Persian with a sufficient expert knowledge of German is available to help in this matter...These you can better translate from good English editions."

3 May 1947 [to Dr. Adelbert Muhlschlegel]
Your letters to our beloved Guardian, dated Feb. 7th and 11th, as well as the manuscript of "Hidden Words" have been received, and he has instructed me to answer them on his behalf.
He is very happy to have this opportunity of communicating with you personally, and assuring you of how much he appreciates your devoted services in the path of our glorious Faith.
Regarding the questions you have asked him:
There is no correspondence or connection between the Hidden Word (Arabic) no. 1 and the last Arabic Hidden Word, or between these and any passage of the Seven Valleys.
The Cairo edition of the Hidden Words, approved by the Master, is the one you must refer to for accuracy, and disregard all other texts. This answers the questions connected with Hidden Words number 18 and 39 and 1 (two) and 35 (two).
Hidden Word no. 70: this is not addressed to any person but is a mystical expression and an allusion to the Manifestation of God.
No marginal notes should be added except any of `Abdu'l-Bahá Himself or the notes of the Cairo edition.
The whole question of translation from the original text is very important. He has just written on this subject, at some length, to Baroness von Werthern, explaining to her that he considers now is not the time to translate the teachings into German from Persian and Arabic. No Persian with a sufficient expert knowledge of German is available to help in this matter; he does not feel, therefore, that such works as "Some Answered Questions", "Seven Valleys", etc. should be embarked upon at all. People who have not spent years steeped in the atmosphere and language and literature of the East cannot possibly grasp the subtleties of oriental usage. A good example of this very point is that Prof. Sussheim has not grasped what Bahá'u'lláh means by the word "[Arabic script]". He is using it in a loose and colloquial sense which means "a passing thing", a small amount, and not literally associating it with food.
He feels you should continue your study of the teachings in the original and, from time to time, if you desire to, translate material from the original in short excerpts; but not at present important books and Tablets. These you can better translate from good English editions.
There is so much teaching work, and administrative work, to be done in Germany at present that he urges you to concentrate on this form of service. The public need to receive the Message on a large scale, to have available literature at once, to read articles on the Bahá'í Faith; and in all these ways your services can be of great help.
P.S. "Tur" and "Sinai" should not be taken literally; the first is an allusion to Mt. Sinai, which in this case means the Manifestation of God; the second, "Sinai", represents the human heart.
In the Guardian's own handwriting:
May the Almighty bless, sustain and guide you, at all times and under all conditions, assist you to proclaim the verities of His Faith, and lend a tremendous impetus to the advancement and consolidation of its new-born and God-given institutions,
Your true and grateful brother,
Shoghi

To summarize rules of Bahá'í translations...

Arabic works cannot be translated into Persian.

Persian works cannot be translated into Arabic.

Persian and Arabic works can be translated "into Oriental languages such as Turkish and Urdu."

Persian and Arabic works can be translated into English.

Persian and Arabic works cannot be translated into European languages.

English works can be translated into European languages.

For further reading, please see "Persian, Arabic, and Provisional Translations", "Translation and provisional translations", "Unveiling the Hidden Words, by Diana Malouf: Commentary on "Translating the Hidden Words,' review by Franklin Lewis", a letter dated June 27, 1933 from Shoghi Effendi to Adelbert Mühlschlegel about Bahá'í orthography, a letter dated June 30, 1999 from the Universal House of Justice outlining its procedures for approving provisional as opposed to authorized translations, a letter dated May 13, 1986 from the Universal House of Justice to the Spiritual Assembly of Guadeloupe, and a letter dated February 15, 1957 from Shoghi Effendi to French Bahá'ís.