READING, England, February 9, 2005 — "Many old men and women of Ranonga openly wept tears of joy as they heard Acts 8 being read in their own language for the first time."
For agencies involved in Scripture translation and publication, it is reports like this one from Solomone Duru, General Secretary of the Bible Society in the South Pacific, that remind them just how important their dedicated, painstaking work is to members of communities which have not previously had access to God's Word in their own language. In 2004, eight new Bibles - each of them destined to bring this joy to the communities into which they were launched - were registered by the United Bible Societies (UBS). In total, the complete Bible is now available in 422 languages, according to the recently published Scripture Language Report 2004, which records each new translation of the complete Bible or part of it received by the UBS deposit libraries in New York and Cambridge during the year.
Given that at least 6,500 languages are spoken around the world, the figure of 422 complete Bibles may seem to be quite modest. However, it is important to remember that there are many more languages in which parts of the Bible are available. The Scripture Language Report reveals that 22 new translations of the New Testament were registered in 2004, bringing the total to 1,079, and that there are also 876 languages in which Bible Portions are available. Together, these publications enable a vast number of people to access the Scriptures.
Translating the Bible into languages in which it has not previously existed remains an important and exciting task. But there is another aspect to the work of UBS and similar agencies: revising old translations which have been found to be inadequate or are now outdated. This, too, contributes to the overall effort of making God's Word available to people in a language which they find engaging and meaningful. In the case of both new and revised translations, however, the statistics presented by the Scripture Language Report cannot adequately convey how, in many cases, the effects of receiving a translation may reach far beyond a community's spiritual life. It is only through reading stories like those below that it is possible to see that, once they have a Bible, New Testament or Portion in their own language, people are often encouraged to improve their literacy skills so that they can fully understand it; the community as a whole may also regain a sense of its own identity and value.
The stories behind the statistics
A strengthening of the community was certainly the outcome of the translation project on Ranonga, a small, remote island in the Solomon Islands. The launch of the New Testament in Lungga, the local language, in July 2004 followed more than 20 years of small-scale fundraising efforts by local people. Moreover, a local man, Alpheus Zobule, took an active part in the actual translation work and, having gained valuable experience, is now on track to become the first Pacific Islander to work as a Translation Consultant in the South Pacific. This extensive local involvement meant that, long before the Lungga New Testament was finally launched, Lungga-speakers had gained a strong sense that the translation 'belonged' to them. It also explains the great joy and long queues which Mr Duru witnessed when the finished copies were put on sale. "Today God has arrived in Ranonga," declared a local pastor at the launch. "He has arrived in our own culture and is speaking to us in our own language. This is indeed a great day for our people."
Without exception, the process of translating the Bible requires dedication far beyond what is expected in most 'ordinary' jobs. This, too, cannot be adequately conveyed through statistics. While Alpheus Zobule (see above) committed himself to the Lungga New Testament translation project at a young age, giving up a promising business career to do so, Frøydis Nordbustad, a Norwegian translator and missionary, came out of retirement to spend 13 years working on the translation of the Old Testament into Iraqw, the language of half a million people in the Mbulu district of Tanzania. More than a thousand people flocked to the four-hour dedication ceremony in July 2004, including many who had attended literacy courses during the preceding three months. These 'transitional' courses, run by local churches of various denominations, were designed to teach people already able to read and write Swahili to read and write Iraqw. In this way, people ranging in age from young teenagers to 70-year-olds were equipped to both read God's Word in their own language and to use Iraqw more widely in their everyday lives. After a lifetime struggling to understand Swahili, one elderly lady exclaimed to one of the translators, "Is Christianity really for the Iraqw people? I thought it was only for those who spoke Swahili!"
In sharp contrast, the Sgaw Karen people of Myanmar have had the Bible in their own language since 1853. Over the years, this Bible made a significant contribution to the growth of the Karen Church, but by the 1980s it was becoming clear that a new translation using more contemporary language was needed. The New Testament was published in 1994, and in January 2004 6,000 people travelled long distances, some from as far afield as Thailand, to attend the launch of the complete Common Language Sgaw Karen Bible in a temporary bamboo shelter at the Ko Tha Byu Baptist Seminary in Pathein. Launched at a time of further growth in the Karen Church, the revised translation will assist its efforts to encourage people to truly engage with the Bible's message.
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