The goal of Bible translation is never simply to have written words on a page, but for the Holy Spirit to use the message to speak to people’s hearts, leading to transformed lives and communities. While much of the work of Wycliffe members focuses on rather mundane linguistic, translation and other office work, it is good to be reminded that God is speaking through his word, which is
… alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. (Hebrews 4:12)
Recently our friend and colleague Michelle, who works as a translation adviser to various language communities in northern Tanzania, heard of how some draft sections of Scripture were received when tested in a Zanaki village. She writes:
Shem, one of the translators, sat down and started reading a chapter from Luke (I actually don’t know which one; it was either 10 or 11). After the first passage he looked up and was surprised to see everyone in the group frowning. He thought, “There must be something wrong with the Zanaki words we’ve used!”
Worridly, he continued reading. After another section he glanced at his audience again and saw them looking down at the ground and grimacing! Unable to wait, he asked them, “What do you think of this translation? Please, all feedback is helpful, even if it is negative. How is our word choice, our dialect in this?”
“It’s fine, going on reading,” they said, not offering much insight into their facial expressions. He continued with the chapter, and they still had grimaces, to his consternation.
He started asking them questions to see which things in the translation weren’t clear, and they contributed their thoughts and were helpful. However, about half of them said, “Oh, we’re not Christians, we don’t understand religion well, so maybe you don’t want our answers.”
Shem hastily encouraged them to participate, since answers from people who don’t know the Bible are often the most helpful. He assured them that this was not a test of knowledge, but him looking for help with the language. They stayed and listened to the chapters and gave their feedback about the translation.
At the end, he asked again why it was that they looked so serious when he was reading. This time, they answered him. Both the Christians and the non-Christians told him, “Those words of Jesus were convicting us! They burned our hearts as we listened; we know that just like the people in the parables, we need to repent from our sins. How could we smile when we are thinking about our sins and how we are not right with God?”
Thanks for your prayers over the last couple of weeks for the partnership meetings and language survey in the west of Tanzania, exploring the possibility of a new Bible translation programme among language groups there. We were excited to hear that the main partnership meeting yesterday went really well. Louise writes:
After introductions Rev. Mwita led the group in a devotion from 1 Kings 5:1-18. In small groups, they discussed questions together and then fed back to the group about how Solomon and Hiram worked together well on the same project for different purposes. I gave an introduction including to Bible translation and the Church, and what language development and Bible translation projects look like. What is the church’s role. Susi then did a great job presenting the outcome of the sociolinguistic research they/we did.
Now it was the first time the rubber would really hit the road. Mwita asked, “Do you want to cooperate together to be involved in this ministry? The answer – “Yes!” “How can we not?” “This will be a tremendous help to us in our ministries.” “People will understand God and His Word so much better if they have the Bible in their mother tongue.”….
Then the church leaders discussed which languages, and they did so with real understanding and wisdom, taking into account all that they had heard from Susi’s presentation and what they already knew. The discussion was animated and positive. In the end, they decided on the following:
For language development and Bible translation:
1) Bende (to also serve Tongwe)
2) Pimbwe ( to also serve Rungwa)
For distribution, Scripture Use work, and possibly literacy and non-print media:
1) Sukuma
2) Rundi
For more investigation:
1) Lwila
Susi and I discussing language possibilities with the church leaders
They then chose an interim committee to send out the minutes from this meeting and to set up the next meeting, which will be November 3rd. Its members are from the Anglican, Catholic, Lutheran, Africa Inland, and Tanzania Assemblies of God churches. read more
Thank you for your prayers, and please continue to pray for the communities and church leaders in western Tanzania. We’re very excited to see what God is doing there, and to think about how we may be working alongside some of the people in the photos in the next couple of years!
Amidst all our packing and preparations to move at the moment, it’s exciting to see what is happening in the west of Tanzania. Currently some of our colleagues are in the town of Mpanda in Rukwa Region, meeting with church leaders to discuss whether there is a need and a desire to start language development and Bible translation projects among the various language communities in the area.
The thing that makes this particularly exciting for us, is that this is the area where we may potentially be working when we head to Tanzania in a couple of years!
Louise (who used to be Mark’s boss when he was in Tanzania and is currently one of the team meeting with church leaders) has written today:
We have ‘discovered’ a new language or possibly 3. Of course they’ve been there for a very long time, but just not on any lists produced by academia. We could possibly have up to three new ones to add to the Ethnologue (www.ethnologue.com), but my guess is that they will be considered dialects of neighboring languages. It’s also possible that we might remove one language from the list.
In Tanzania, face to face meetings with individuals are very important to have before gathering in a meeting where decision are to be made. So, for 9 hours today Pastor Joey and I continued to visit the leaders of the Tanzania Assemblies of God, the Evangelistic Assemblies of God of Tanzania, the Lutherans, the Anglicans, and the Africa Inland Church of Tanzania. Every one of the church leaders continues to be very positive about starting a language development and Bible translation project. Some could do a commercial for Bible translation. We’ve talked about it requiring sacrifice from the churches, yet they insist they are ready for that. One good sign is that without asking for it the Lutherans are going to give us use of the meeting room free of charge. read more
Yesterday Louise had the chance to meet with one pastor in particular who has a real heart for Bible translation for his people:
“It’s about time!”
He didn’t say that, but I couldn’t help but think it. We did sociolinguistic surveys of the Bende and Tongwe peoples in 1999! Since then pastor Kasanda has written a couple of times, asking for our assistance in translating the Bible for his people. Today – 11 years later, we drove the 3 1/2 hrs down to his village to meet him and to tell him that things are underway – finally! His family obviously has little, but yet they generously prepared us a fancy lunch. It was a special visit for me as although I didn’t go on those surveys many years ago, I have had these people on my heart since then.
Pastor Kasanda
In the morning Joey and I visited the Roman Catholic offices and had an excellent conversation with the parish priest.
Everyone seems to be so ready to partner in this work! I can’t help but wonder if they will all really come to the meeting on the 16th to commit to going ahead together with the language development and Bible translation project. read more
Please join with us in praying for this part of Tanzania, and particularly for the potential opportunities to serve the language communities in helping them to translate the Bible. If you’d like to keep an eye on what happens over the next few weeks you can join us in following Louise’s blog!
Change is in the air… After 3 and a half years in England where we have been living and working with Wycliffe Bible Translators UK, it’s almost time for us to move on. We’ll still be very much working with Wycliffe, but moving to a new continent and starting new jobs!
Originally our plan after getting married in 2007 was to stay in the UK for a year before heading back to Tanzania, where I was before we were married. Mostly for visa and residency reasons for Laura, that year turned to two… three… and a bit… but now Laura has her British passport and we are free to leave the UK knowing that she doesn’t ever need a visa to return!
Instead of heading straight to Tanzania, we decided for several reasons that we should spend some time in the US with Laura’s family first. One of our aims whilst there will be to share with individuals and churches the things that God has put on our hearts, in the hope that they will join with us and support us in prayer and financially over the coming years.
At the same time we will both be studying, for the first time in a while! Laura will be taking a course in Psychology and Family Studies from Corban University in Oregon, which she hopes will give her a good background as she desires to help and support people in Tanzania who are working cross-culturally.
We’ll be starting our new jobs in August, at first based here in the UK, and hopefully moving to Oregon sometime in the autumn. At the moment we are waiting for Mark’s US visa which is still being processed, but we’re praying that that will be completed in the next few months so that we can fly to the States.
We’d really appreciate your prayers as we transition into this new stage – for all the practicalities like the visa, moving house, finances, and also that we would enjoy and do well in our new jobs and studying.
Our hope is still very much to move to Tanzania in the future, possibly sometime in 2012, to be involved in a new translation project with several language communities in the west of the country. If you’d like to find out more about what God is doing through Bible translation in Uganda and Tanzania at the moment, take a look at thetask.net
We’d also love for you to consider how you can also play a small but crucial part in translating Scripture into some of the 2,300 languages that don’t have any of the Bible. If you would like to support us in any way, do take a look at how you can do that.
The following is a report from James and Jess Lucas in Mongu, Zambia, about the start of the Luke Partnership in Western Province that I had the privilege of visiting last month. The partnership of various churches has the desire to start Bible translation projects amongst the various language groups of the vast province.
Kwangwa speakers during an interview at Katoya
Kwamashi speaking children in church building (Fuo, Shangombo)
Dear Friends,
I once heard a touching and true story about a young man living in Mongu. When he was just a child, the Jesus Film (Silozi version) was shown in his village. He grew up amazed and proud that Jesus was from his tribe and spoke his language. (He discovered only later that Jesus spoke many languages.) Today, he is an accomplished leader.
The common factor in the pictures above is that they are all young people from two of Western Zambia’s several tribes, the Kwangwas and Kwamashis. Sadly, in contrast to the story above, neither of these two tribes have any access to the life-changing hope and power of God’s Word, the Bible in their language. According to a 2004 survey, there are several language groups in the Western Province of Zambia (representing tens or even hundreds of thousands of people) which may still need a Bible Translation. In response to this problem, we have begun an initiative, called “Luke Partnership, Western Zambia”.
Objectives and Aims:
1. To identify languages (among all tribes) needing translation assistance through survey and research
2. Linking tribes, local churches and organizations to work together in local Bible translation projects.
3. To transform lives in Western Province of Zambia in each language and in each generation through God’s Word.
What Progress have we Made?
Survey Workshop Attendees in class. (Back left: Donald Mulimba, Project Coordinator)
Mark Woodward, Survey Trainer (Wycliffe UK) in Mongu
1. A Project Coordinator began (April) We feel privileged to be joined in this work by such quality people like Donald Mulimba. Donald is an elder at Word Alive Worship Centre in Mongu. He has also worked with the Police as a detective for many years. His investigative skills will certainly help him in his work of researching tribes! His years of experience (professional, ministerial and educational) will also help him to be a great project coordinator.
2. Survey Training Workshop and Outreach in Villages (May) Another highlight was having Mark Woodward (working with Wycliffe Bible Translators) visit us for 2 weeks all the way from England in the UK. Having worked in Tanzania for 3 years, Mark is experienced in surveying rural tribes and their various Languages. Workshop attendees came from different churches and denominations in Mongu. We had such fun learning all the how to’s and applying them among the Kwangwa tribe from Lyomboko, Nalikwanda to Kabilimukanwa, Lui. There are still many months ahead of surveying several tribes in Western Province (and getting stuck in the sand!)
3. Permission from the Barotse Royal Establishment, Limilunga (June) Members of the Kwangwa tribe advised us to consult at the palace (especially since Kwangwa is considered a royal language). On June 4th Donald and James (missionary) visited the Ngambela (Prime Minister of Barotseland) and Kuta. They were pleased to give their blessing and permission to this project to survey and assist languages groups in Western Province. They have requested regular updates on the work.
Our Rough Plan:
1. Extensive research will be carried out among several tribes to discover
a) if a translation is really needed or is the Lozi translation adequate?
b) Will this language die or reduce in the next 10 years or is this language growing?
2. Members of various churches in the language area, select members to represent them on a planning committee. This committee doesn’t actually do the translation. They oversee the organization and select translators on behalf of their tribe.
3. These translators travel from their tribes and attend training in Mongu 3 times per year over 3-4 years. (We are grateful to the owners at Mutoya Campsite who have donated use of their campsite, classroom and kitchen facilities for these workshops)
4. At the end of these workshops, we aim to complete:
a) a Bible story series with Scripture portions
b) the GOSPEL OF LUKE (this is where we get the name ‘Luke Partnership’, the name of the project),
c) a JESUS FILM script and
d) a dubbed recording of the Jesus Film in their language
5. If this produces fruit in communities, the committee can choose to start a full scale New Testament project.
Partners in the work – We need you!
The task of completing a translation of the Bible into any language is something that no person can do alone! It is a task that belongs to the whole church in the language area and there must be a team of people sharing in the work. The work is therefore interdenominational.
Please join us! We invite you and your church … … to formally become partners with us in this work… to visit us or request a visit where we can tell you more. (We are currently on the waiting list for office space at the NPF buildings)…. to select one or more of your members to represent your church on our organizing committee.
We look forward to hearing from you!
James Lucas. (+260) 979 496 059, Missionary, “Luke Partnership, Western Zambia”
We travelled a couple of hours along the sandy road to Nalikwanda, which we thought was near the centre of the Kwangwa area, but when we got there we found that actually most people speak Lozi as much if not more than Kwangwa. We had the chance to sit and chat with some people and to conduct a couple of group interviews with them, before travelling back to Mongu to reflect on our first day of survey.
Clifford digs out the car after we get stuck in the sand on the way to Nalikwanda
Donald is ready to question passers-by about their languages!
Tuesday
Today we headed back to Nalikwanda, and then a bit further towards the village of Lukweta. In Lukweta the people seem to speak more Kwangwa, but Lozi is still strong. The people we met suggested that we continue a bit further on the road however, so we went as far as the villages of Namang’anga and Silili, where we finally found people who are really speaking Kwangwa as their first language rather than Lozi. It seems that this is the (or a) heartland of the Kwangwa language, although there are probably speakers in other areas of Western Province too, possibly in Senanga and other Districts.
On the sandy road again…
Donald and Progress, deep in thought
A reminder of God’s faithfulness
Listening to a story from another village
After speaking with people in these two villages we recorded a couple of stories and headed back home. Eventually, after getting stuck for over an hour we got back to eat and debrief at 11:15pm, finally getting to bed around 1am.
Clifford digs us out again
Wednesday
After a hard day yesterday we stayed in Mongu today to think and plan ahead, and also to try to get permission from the King for the work we’re doing and hoping to do. We weren’t able to get an appointment with his Prime Minister today, so it seems we’ll have to do that tomorrow.
Thursday
We headed out again, this time going east on the Lusaka road, before heading 40km south to a couple of villages. We talked with people in these places, asking them many questions about the languages they speak, as well as collecting a 280-word list and playing a couple of stories we’d previously recorded in other villages. It seems like this area and where we were on Tuesday are probably the heartland of the Kwangwa people and their language, although there are also Kwangwa villages in other districts of Western Province, some of which are many hours drive away.
People in the village of Mululumi
James and Progress collecting a word-list
As we got back to phone coverage we found that we’d been given an appointment with the Prime Minister, which we had missed… not a good start, but hopefully we’ll be able to meet with him tomorrow.
Driving back through the bush
Friday
Some of the guys went to meet with the Prime Minister, while I looked around the small Lozi museum – a fascinating place that documents the Lozi people and their kings for the past 250 years or more. The meeting went very well, and the Prime Minister and his Cabinet are very happy for us to continue with language research and potentially translating the Bible into several languages in Western Province. One commented that “We cannot object, because if we do we may find that we are fighting against God”.
In the afternoon we had a debrief session for the survey, reflecting on what went well and what we would do differently in future, and what the next steps should be in surveying the languages of the Province. After that we briefly visited the UCZ (United Church in Zambia) Bishop in Mongu, who has kindly allowed the project to use an office on his premises. He seems like a very wise and humble man, and was very encouraging about the potential translation projects here.
The language survey team at the end of the week
Saturday
The survey is now finished, so we had a day of finishing practical things before I leave for Livingstone early tomorrow morning. I’m looking forward to being back at home with Laura, but have also thoroughly enjoyed this trip and being back in rural Africa. It has been a privilege to work with such a great group of guys, and I’m confident that they can finish the Kwangwa survey on their own and go on to survey other languages of Western Province.
Sunday
I left Mongu at 7am with a couple of ladies who were driving to Livingstone. In the light the journey only took 11 hours, and certainly seemed a lot quicker than on the way! We spent the night at a campsite next to the huge and incredible Zambezi River… together with 24 car-loads of Dutch football fans who are driving from the Netherlands to South Africa for the World Cup!
Monday / Tuesday
After 24 hours I arrived back at London Heathrow via World Cup mad Johannesburg and Munich, excited to see Laura again! It’s been a long two weeks apart, but we’re both grateful for what God has done in the time, and also the things that he has taught us.
Please continue to pray for the Kwangwa people and speakers of other languages in Zambia’s Western Province who don’t yet have the Bible. And please also remember to pray for the workers in Mongu as they seek to come alongside these communities, helping them to translate the Bible and to give God’s life-giving story to those who don’t yet have it in their own language.
Arrived in Livingstone, Zambia, via Frankfurt and Johannesburg, after running around Johannesburg airport for a while trying to find my bag and then finding that it was already on the plane. Met James and Jess who I’ll be staying with are who are coordinating the start of a translation project for some of the language groups in Western Province. They took me to visit Victoria Falls which was incredible, although it was pretty hard to see very much because of all the spray. Got very wet, but managed to get a few photos. I think I saw more water in 20 minutes than I’d seen in 3 years in Tanzania…
The incredible Victoria Falls
Me with the falls somewhere behind the mist…
Looking downstream – the bridge from Zambia to Zimbabwe
After a bite to eat we set off on the 14-hour dirt-road trip, eventually arriving at 5am after finally reaching the end of the never-ending road.
Tuesday
Slept in until 11:30am, and then felt very lazy as everyone else was already half-way through their day. In the afternoon I was able to meet the workshop participants – 5 Zambian guys in addition to James and Jess – and do an introductory session about why it’s important to survey language communities before you start any Bible translation project, and what can go wrong if you don’t! They seem like a great group of people, and I’m really looking forward to spending the next two weeks working with them.
Chinga, Clifford and James deep in thought
Wednesday
A full day of thinking through how we should approach any language research. By the end of the day we had discussed some of the potential issues that we should research, and come up with some questions on which to focus the research that we’ll be doing next week amongst the Kwangwa people. In the evening James and I went to the funeral of a nearby community leader who had passed away, to share in the grief of his elderly widow and the rest of the community.
Thursday
Today we focused mainly on dialect issues – how do we know if people speaking two dialects can use the same Bible translation? And which dialect should materials be produced in so that as wide an audience as possible can understand and accept them? Then in the afternoon we looked at the issue of language vitality – whether a language will continue to be spoken, before thinking through some cultural and practical things for our trip to the Kwangwa next week.
I keep waking up every morning and thinking “what a beautiful day!”, and then remembering that that’s just what happens in dry season in Africa! I also keep remarking what a beautiful sunset it is every evening – probably because in England it’s such a rare occurrence if the sun ever happens to be shining as it sets.
James and Jess thinking through some of the issues
Friday
We met together for final preparations for the trip to the Kwangwa people next week, deciding on exactly what questions we’ll ask people and other methods we’ll use to investigate how they would best engage with the Scriptures in their own language. I’m looking forward to the trip – despite the fact that we’ve only had 3 and a half days together discussing the principles of language research, I think the guys have a good grasp on things. Hopefully they’ll really be able to see things coming together as they put the theory into practice next week.
Clifford and Progress designing village interview schedules
Saturday
A restful day, doing not too much and answering a few emails. Feels like quite a few weeks since I’ve had a proper rest day that hasn’t involved visa applications or other things!
The beautiful view over the Zambezi flood plain
Sunday
Went to the English-speaking church in town, which was different to any other church I’ve been to in Africa! The church is trying to reach out to the more educated members of the community, in the hope that they will become leaders in the church and have a vision to reach out to others in Western Province. In the afternoon we finish preparing for the village trip tomorrow, printing out interview schedules and blank word-lists ready for the 7am departure…!
On Sunday 23rd May I’ll be heading to Zambia for a couple of weeks, to work alongside an organisation called Worldwide Mission, as they seek to reach out to communities in Western Zambia that don’t yet have access to the Bible in their languages.
As ever, the first stage in any translation project is for the various partners to assess in what language and form communities are most likely to engage with the Bible, and to think through how and where projects should be started. I’ll be spending a week with the team of Zambian and South African missionaries in the town of Mongu, helping them to think through how to help the communities decide on the best way forward for any language project.
We’ll be discussing things like:
Planning the research trip, to make sure that we’re asking the right questions
What languages people use in their daily lives, and which of these they would be most likely to engage with Scripture in
Which communities would benefit from Bible translation projects into their previously unwritten languages
Which communities could use the same written materials, and which require separate translations
Within a language area, which dialect is best to use for the Bible and other materials
Who potential partners are in a language project
What the language situation is likely to be like in the coming generations
During the second week I’ll be accompanying the team on a trip to some of these communities as we begin to research some of these questions. The aim is that by the end of the time they will feel confident to continue the research in the rest of western Zambia – a large area about the size of England – working alongside many ethnic groups.
Please pray for the time – that it would be profitable for all involved. I haven’t had much time to prepare the workshop as I’m still working in recruitment for Wycliffe UK at the moment, but my hope is that together we can work through the basic principles of the research and that the team will understand the situation sufficiently to be able to continue on their own over the next few months.
I’d appreciate prayer for safe travel too – both internationally and within Zambia – and for safe non-volcano-interrupted flights each way! Laura will be on here own at home for the first time while I’m away, but has several friends around to make sure she survives!
If you’d like to follow my trip, I’m hoping to be able to continue sending updates on twitter whilst in Zambia, which you can find here.
An estimate of the languages spoken in Zambia from ethnologue.com
This past weekend was the orientation course for our Wycliffe UK Engage summer teams. This year the teams will be going to Cambodia, Indonesia and Cameroon in July and August, to visit Bible translation projects and meet the communities involved in the projects.
Unfortunately a large cloud of volcanic ash meant that half of the participants were unable to make the weekend, but the other half seemed to have a good time. It was fun to get to know them a bit, and exciting to think that they’ll be travelling to the other side of the world to see how God is working in completely different cultures!
We won’t be part of any of the teams this year as we have quite a busy summer and are preparing to move to the US, but next month I’m hoping (volcanic ash permitting) to go to Zambia for a couple of weeks to teach a language survey workshop to staff from a partner organisation there, to help them as they prepare to reach out to some of the many Bible-less groups around them.
Before that we have a busy few weeks though – this coming weekend we’ll be heading to Scotland for the first time ever! We’ll be speaking at the Wycliffe Scotland conference, which we’re looking forward to – it’ll be a good chance to meet many of the Scottish Wycliffe members, to learn from them, and to share with them something of what we’ve been learning lately.
Please pray for us – for safe travel to and from the conference (6 hours each way by car, which is a long way in the UK…!) and for wisdom in knowing what to share. I’d also appreciate prayer as I try to fit in all my normal work as well as preparing for this and a couple of other events coming up in the next few weeks. Thanks!
When people think about the huge number of language communities in the world who don’t have access to the Bible, one of the first questions of many mother-tongue English speakers is “Why not just teach everyone English?”
There are many answers to this question – practical, technical, historical… but the main reason has to be that it just wouldn’t fit in with the God we see in the Bible and the way he works. God always reaches out to his people in a way that they can understand and relate to – he makes the first move.
Here’s Wycliffe UK Director Eddie Arthur giving his answer to the question of why we shouldn’t teach everyone English (or Chinese, Arabic, Spanish or Swahili for that matter…)
Some children in (or near to) the Zanaki-speaking area when we surveyed the Zanaki language back in 2005
