| We’ve talked to you a bit about the checking process before, but a little review is always good. It is very important to not just translate Scripture, but translate it in a way that is true to the original text, and also meaningful to the reader who is in a different culture thousands of years removed from the original author. In order to make the best translation possible, four checks are done on every word of Scripture that is translated in our project.
1. First, we do Team Checking. This is where our translators get together within their separate language teams and compare the translations each individual person has done. They will then decide verse by verse what they think is the best translation and make that into one document.
2. Next is Village Checking. This is where the translators take what they have translated and read it to people in their village who have never heard it before. Then, they ask questions to see if the people heard what the translator intended to say. I’m sure we can all think of a time when we knew exactly what we were saying but someone else got a completely different meaning from it. Another PBT missionary once discovered that his first-hearers thought that Peter was not only a woman, but a prostitute!
3. Then comes Adviser Checking. Craig is the adviser for the Apma and Hano languages and our partner Gregory is the adviser for the Sa and Havai languages. Once the village check is complete, Craig sits down with the translators to review the translated Scripture to make sure that it is true to the original text and also that it is translated in a way that is meaningful to the ni-Vanuatu people. In this checking Craig often finds things that were mistranslated because of a lack of understanding of ancient Hebrew culture, or because there is a need to translate a word or concept from Hebrew that just doesn’t exist in ni-Vanuatu culture today, such as the “milk and honey” issue at the beginning of this newsletter. This is also where we work to catch spelling mistakes, which can be many since we are working with languages that are very rarely written down.
4. The fourth and final check is called Consultant Checking. This is where we bring in a specially trained consultant to do a careful review to find any mistakes we might have missed. The consultant will be someone with hands-on translation experience who also is looking at the translation for the first time. It was during consultant checking this past January that we caught the error of having Eve say, “the snake tempted me and I ate it” with “it” being the snake and not the fruit! Sometimes a fresh set of eyes can go a long way!
Even with all this checking mistakes can and do still happen, but we are making every effort to help our translators produce a quality translation of God’s word that can be heard and understood in their own language and culture. Please continue to pray for our translators and our team as we work hard to make the best translation that we can! |
