Translating Ruth into Five Languages, September 2023

In September,  I (Jennings) helped lead a workshop for five new translation teams, on the book of Ruth. They have all spent more than a year in community mobilization, talking to their home communities about Bible translation and encouraging people to get involved and to contribute. Many of the translators (such as the two above) were in the same class of Bible translation students at the local Christian university, two years ago. 

Our goal was to get them started in their translation projects with good habits, and with a positive and encouraging first experience. We focused on exegeting and translating the book of Ruth. 

Why Ruth? That's what we wondered!! As best we could tell, it was the project's funder who chose Ruth, because it's not too hard, and it's short. We were skeptical that it was a good choice for their first book. But... by the time we got really into it, the translators were finding all kinds of interesting applications. For one thing, the decision of Ruth to stay with Naomi deeply touched them. Also, the fact of being driven from your homeland by famine (or in their case, war), being obliged to live among a different people, even among people who are your traditional enemies such as the Israelites and Moabites were. 

Another thing that struck them was the tradition of deciding family matters in the open, at the city gate. They admired the transparency of that practice. 

So, here's how it went. First, we studied the historical background, themes, key terms, and unknown concepts (such as “kinsman redeemer”, “gleaning”, levirate marriage, and vinegar). A consultant who spent six months in Jerusalem studying Hebrew led them through a discussion of the various names for God, the names of people in the book and their meanings, and various other aspects of the book. The participants had great questions and talked at length about similar traditions they have, such as a younger brother marrying his older brother's widow, to keep her in the family.

Here, one of the consultants is talking with them about how names in the Old Testament had meanings... just as all of their names have meanings. In fact, one of the translators is seriously considering changing his name because of its negative meaning in his language. He wants to change it to a name that means "grace". 

Then the teams translated two chapters into their own languages. We tried a new method of drafting that focuses on listening to each passage several times, re-telling it in your own language multiple times, then recording an oral draft, on their phones. This oral draft is then transcribed and polished, to make a first written draft. We were fortunate to have a consultant-in-training who has worked a lot in Oral Bible Translation (OBT) in another city. He guided the teams step-by-step through the process (below).

This teacher also showed them how to set up a Paratext software "desktop" with the resources they would need: Hebrew with French interlinear, various French and Swahili versions, and a French translator's guide, "Comprendre pour traduire". 

We started each day with singing and a meditation by one of the participants

This pastor (above) told us about the first time he heard women from a neighboring ethnic group praying in their mother tongue, twenty years ago, and his desire for his own people to use their language for worship, instead of the regional language. His denominational leadership asked him to move to Bunia to start Bible translation studies five years ago. It was a big change for his family... their standard of living went way down when he left his church position and became a student. But He knew it was God's calling. Now he and another translator are starting translation.

 

Most of the participants had been students together at Shalom University of Bunia, and graduated two years ago. They enjoyed catching up with each other.

One of our main goals was to start them off with good work habits, and good relationships, and that they actually enjoy the process of discovering the Biblical text and translating it. We definitely felt that the participants overall were engaged and enjoying themselves, even as they were doing hard mental work.

When they finished their first draft of each section, they went through a team check: one person would read it aloud, while the other made notes on how to make it sound more clear and natural. Then they would do the same process... one translator reads, and the other looks carefully at a "literal" version to be sure that nothing has been left out, changed or added to the text.

Once they are satisfied with their draft, we had translation consultants do an "intermediate" check with them, going verse by verse. Later, they will have a "final" consultant check and be ready to publish.

I worked with this team

This team was the only non-Bantu language, and they worked with a consultant whose language is from the same language family

One of the teams (left) was a dialect of the same language as one of the consultants (right)! They had great exchanges together. 

We also took time each day to do “team building” activities. These included: making a list of what makes a "good" team and what makes a "bad" team. Then we grouped these into 1) work, 2) interpersonal, 3) attitudes, and 4) leadership. Each team wrote a document stating their values and how they will work together. We also did fun activities, like acting out Bible stories, without words, and the others had to guess what the story was. (Below: Jesus calms the storm, and Sapphira explains to the apostles that she and Ananias did not keep any of the money they promised to give.) 

Another group performed "Ananias and Saphira"

Another day, they each interviewed another participant that they didn't know well, and then introduce him to the rest of the group. That was also an encouraging activity.

On the last day, we had a closing ceremony, with short speeches from a consultant, from a current translator, and from one of the students. The consultant, a Reverend Pastor who spent decades on a team that translated the entire Bible into his language, welcomed these new translators. "Some of us have grown old in Bible translation. Welcome, and grow old along with us." 

Then we gave out certificates, took a group ohtos, and had a final meal. 

I'm on the first row, second from the left 😁

What's next: Our hope is for them to finish translating the entire book, test it in their communities to see how well people understand it, and have it consultant-checked and ready for publication by January. We are planning a second workshop in February, this time with the goal of translating Jonah. The other consultants and I are especially encouraged by how sharp these teams are, and by how much pleasure they were taking in studying and translating. 

Please pray for these translators and for their communities, as many of them have fled to Bunia from their home areas due to danger from militia attacks, and others live in areas that are not always safe.