A New Testament in Three Years? Some comments on process, product, and timeline

I hope this explanation of the process by which the Nsenga New Testament came into being is helpful to other Bible translation projects around the world. We are by no means claiming to have the best or only way of producing a mother-tongue NT, but with God’s grace and blessing we were able to find a process which worked in our context, using the people and assets available to us. I am more than willing to discuss in greater detail any aspect of the Nsenga translation process, and welcome your prayers as we move forward into Old Testament translation work.

Extracted text from Three_Year_NT.pdf:

A New Testament in Three Years? Some comments on process, product, and timeline Chris Pluger September 2015

Introduction The Nsenga Bible Translation Project (NBTP) of Petauke, Zambia, has received some publicity in Bible translation circles for its recent completion of the New Testament only three years after starting translation work. This article will attempt to explain a bit more about the process used by the NBTP, the personnel and other assets which allowed such a rapid completion of the NT, and answers to some frequently asked questions concerning checking, quality, translator training, etc. First, however, I will give a small caveat as to why the three years number is a bit misleading.

A Caveat The first day that the Nsenga translators came to the office for work was July 1, 2012. On July 1, 2015, we made the last ParaTExt send-and-receive with Bible Society servers, uploading the last set of changes made locally to the Nsenga NT text. This time period is the three years which is commonly spoken of, and it captures the major core of work that was done to produce the Nsenga NT. But of course, the project did not begin the day the translators first came to the office, and it did not end with the last send-andreceive. As early as March 2010, dialogue was occurring between a core group in Petauke (who would eventually form the NBTP Committee) and the Bible Society of Zambia (BSZ), discussing what was necessary to begin a Inauguration of Nsenga Bible Translation Project, May 2010 translation project. In May 2010, representatives from BSZ and Lutheran Bible Translators (LBT) met with a large group of local stakeholders, including church leaders, committee members, Nsenga chiefs, and local government officials to inaugurate the NBTP. Local efforts, including sensitization of local churches and visits to other chiefs, continued throughout 2010-2011. I arrived in Zambia with my family in August 2011 and began to take on the role as advisor to the NBTP committee. We stepped up our visits to churches, government, and traditional leaders and began publicizing our need for qualified translators. In May 2012 we held a workshop, under the guidance of BSZ, to choose three Nsenga translators. As previously mentioned, translation work began in July 2012. Dedication of Nsenga Gospel of Mark, May 2013

Even after that final send-and-receive in July 2015, there is of course still work to be done. BSZ

helped with editing and consistency checks subsequent to the final upload from Petauke. In August, the Bible Society of Korea typeset the Nsenga NT, and another proofread of those galleys remains to be done. Printing and shipping will take some time. The launch and dedication service for the Nsenga NT is scheduled for July 14, 2016, and planning and community organization work will take place between now and then. So we can see that even though the core of the translation work was accomplished in three years, there are still essential tasks which need to be completed before and after translation. An active committee (or other community support) is vital to ensure that the community is engaged in the project. If the local stakeholders are involved in and aware of the process of translation, it is far more likely that the product of the translation (the NT, in whatever forms are Nsenga NT draft being read in a local congregation appropriate for the context) will accepted, used, and loved by the people it is supposed to reach. Three well-trained translators can easily produce a translated New Testament in three years, but translation should not be done in a vacuum. What is also needed is active work during the process of translation to insure that the community will accept that New Testament when it is complete. This work can take many forms in the Nsenga project, it included sensitization visits to churches and chiefs, regular reporting to the local Ministers Fellowship, a programme of visitation and Scripture reading to urban and rural churches, several interviews and specials on local radio and TV, printing of a Scripture portion (Mark) and a dedication service, many active reviewer workshops where church leaders, teachers, and other custodians of the language can give their input on theological terminology and the process of reducing a previously-oral language to written, and others but it is important that some type of contextually-appropriate community engagement efforts take place alongside the translation work. At the end of the day, although A New Testament in Three Years makes a great headline (and we are duly proud of the high-quality work that was able to be done in that relatively short time), it needs to be well-understood that a more accurate dating of the Nsenga NT must begin in March 2010 and conclude at the dedication in July 2016 more like A New Testament Project in Six-and-a-Third Years.

The Translators We were blessed with an embarrassment of riches when it came to translator selection. We had advertised on radio and in local churches regarding our need for Nsenga translators for the new Bible translation project. Applications came in one or two at a time, but steadily, so that by the first day of the workshop we had over 20 potential translators. Through a process of written testing, oral interviews, and a sample Bible translation activity, the field was narrowed to six candidates. On the final day, second The Nsenga translation team

interviews were held with each, and the final team of three full-time translators was chosen. All of our translators were mother-tongue speakers of Nsenga with some post-secondary education. One was a retired Anglican priest with many years of experience both in public administration and pastoral work, who had done some graduate theological studies in the UK. One was a teaching elder in the Pentecostal church who regularly translated English adult-education materials into local languages. The third was a mother of three who came with a diploma in Information Technology and Secretarial Administration, and also a strong recommendation from her Reformed Church of Zambia pastor. At the end of the selection workshop, BSZ personnel gave initial ParaTExt training to the translators who were chosen, along with the other three finalists who were not chosen. (One of those has become a very regular reviewer and checker for us and is a huge asset to the project, in spite of not being chosen.) While the younger two translators had no trouble with basic computer skills, the older priest had never used a computer or typewriter before. Therefore, basic computer and keyboarding training was arranged with him at a local internet shop. The first days in the office were spent with some very basic on-the-job training in translation theory and practice. We also attended a ParaTExt workshop in Lusaka for all BSZ projects, which covered (in addition to regular PT issues) some basic introduction to the use of model texts and commentaries as an aid to translation. Other training has been ongoing with the project on-the-job from me as we work through passages with major translation issues, local training from BSZ as they visit our project, and workshops both in Zambia and abroad.

The Process The greatest asset to our project, in terms of accurate translation work being done at an accelerated pace, is Buku Loyera, the modern Chewa Bible. Produced by the Bible Society of Malawi, Buku Loyera is an invaluable resource for our team. Chewa is the language of wider communication in eastern Zambia, and all Nsengas learn Chewa in primary school. Many are familiar with Buku Loyera from church. Since Buku Loyera is a modern dynamic-equivalence translation in a closely-related language, it is a great starting point for Stage 1 drafting. My exegetical checking of the Nsenga draft and subsequent discussion and editing with the translators addresses any other issues in the first draft. Our Stage 2 review process was also greatly accelerated by the use of ParaTExt Live. This feature of PT was introduced to us at the initial BSZ PT workshop, and is a wonderful way to insure accurate corrections and discussions about the text as the translators review each others Stage 2 checking with ParaTExt Live drafts. About one week out of every month is devoted to PT Live Stage 2 checking. Usually the three translators, one or two other reviewers, and I sit down and read through the text out loud, paragraph by paragraph. Everyone is able to follow along on his/her screen, and by the use of the cursor to indicate areas of concern. When corrections are made, everyone is able to instantly see and evaluate the changes. This makes Stage 2 checks more efficient, accurate, and meaningful.

Thanks to outside funding from Every Tribe Every Nation (ETEN), the NBTP was able to use a new and innovative way of doing Stage 3 review. Instead of sending out manuscripts for revision to many different teams or individuals in the Nsenga-speaking region (and then waiting weeks or months for feedback which may or may not be helpful), we were able to host large workshops in a major city that brought 25+ reviewers together for an intensive week of face-toface review. The discussions, arguments, agreements, and synergy in these Reviewer Workshops are a chance for discussion workshops really helped our finished product to be well-polished and acceptable to people from a wide range of regions and church backgrounds. When the reviewers returned home, they not only carried with them draft manuscripts of the NT to be used in their churches and communities, but also the knowledge that their opinions had been heard and their concerns addressed. Perhaps more than any other single thing, these workshops helped to shift the Nsenga NT from a sterile project that they are doing for the Nsenga people, into a cooperative undertaking that we are doing for our children and grandchildren. Our project was also blessed to have a Zambian UBS consultant available to us who knew Nsenga without the need for a back-translation. His input at every stage of the translation process was invaluable. Finally, thanks to our great relationships with local churches and pastors, we are able to do a wide range of community testing of our drafts in churches, highlighting our project and soliciting valuable comments and feedback. Because of the thorough process of Stage 1-4 drafting, reviewing, checking, and community testing, I am confident that the Nsenga NT, although finished in a relatively short amount of time, is nevertheless accurate to the original meaning of Scripture and beautiful and clear in the modern Nsenga language. I am also confident that dozens of reviewers and hundreds of local church members would concur with that statement.

Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed...

Other Assets The process detailed above would not have been possible without support from a number of organizations, including BSZ, LBT, and ETEN. At every step of the way, outside partners were willing to come along side and help us to improve our processes, train our workers, improve our knowledge, get the word out about our project, and otherwise remove decelerants that would have hindered our work completing in a timely manner.

Our outside partners were able to provide assistance with translator salaries, laptops, internet access, a printer and toner, a generator and petrol, bicycles for the translators, a vehicle for consultant visits, funding for reviewer workshops, translator training (locally, in country-wide workshops, and international translator training), printing of our Mark booklets, and many other items. In addition, my presence every day with the project as an advisor and exegete is made possible by generous individual and congregational supporters in the USA.

Conclusion I hope this explanation of the process by which the Nsenga New Testament came into being is helpful to other Bible translation projects around the world. We are by no means claiming to have the best or only way of producing a mother-tongue NT, but with Gods grace and blessing we were able to find a process which worked in our context, using the people and assets available to us. I am more than willing to discuss in greater detail any aspect of the Nsenga translation process, and welcome your prayers as we move forward into Old Testament translation work.

This is my language!

Chris.Pluger@LBT.org

Addendum: The following chart shows the approximate number of verses per day that UBS recommends as a goal for translation projects. Add about 30 days total for Stage 4 consultant checking. Note that the total number of days for a New Testament (600) is lower than the sum of days required for each individual book (1100) because there are three translators drafting simultaneously. Assuming approximately 220 working days per year, a three year NT is about what would be expected, following these guidelines.

Number of Days N.T. BOOK 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Total Mat Mk Lk Jn Ac Ro 1 Co 2 Co Gal Eph Php Col 1 Th 2 Th 1 Tm 2 Tm Titus Phil Heb Jas 1 Pe 2 Pe 1 Jn 2 Jn 3 Jn Jude Rev NT Number Verses 1071 678 1151 879 1007 433 437 257 149 155 104 95 89 47 113 83 46 25 303 107 105 61 105 13 14 25 404 7956 with 3 translators working: Degr. Diff. 3 3 3 4 3 5 4 4 5 5 5 5 4 4 3 3 3 3 5 3 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 Stage: 1 89 57 96 88 84 54 44 26 19 19 13 12 9 5 9 7 4 2 38 9 11 6 11 1 1 2 34 750 250 2 36 23 38 35 34 22 17 10 7 8 5 5 4 2 4 3 2 1 15 4 4 2 4 1 0 1 13 300 300 3 6 4 6 6 6 4 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 2 50 50

Total work days 131 84 140 129 124 80 64 38 27 28 19 18 14 8 14 11 7 4 56 14 16 9 16 1 1 4 49 1100 600 days