SIL Translation Newsletter

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 International Translation Services (ITS) works in collaboration with colleagues in SIL and other agencies to creatively steward and advance the translation practices, tools, methods, and training necessary to enable a supportive environment for individuals and communities to flourish and engage with Scripture.
We value: Interconnectedness. Capacity Building. Diversity. Innovation.

November 2021

• Every-One, mentor - recruit - encourage one, or two, or three! - Greg Dekker
• 2021 Bible Translation Conference Report - Dick Kroneman
• Bible Translation Conference Impressions- Prompting Innovative Thinking on Bible Translation
• DTL Training Modules Available - Phil King
• Global Consultant Pool - Bill Bivin
• TCDW Online 2022 - Angie Foo
• Competency-Based Certification (CBC): Pilot Testing - Phil King 
• Pioneering African Bible Translator - Samuel Ajayi Crowther

Useful Links
SIL International Translation Services Leadership Team

Every-One, mentor - recruit - encourage one, or two, or three!
Greg Dekker (ITS Director)

In the last 10-15 years in SIL, I have tried to be very purposeful about “succession planning”, the idea that when I leave my role, I do my best to identify someone to succeed me in it. Even earlier in my work in SIL I intended to not do translation alone, but to work with, and train local translators who would succeed me. As a translator, that required intentionality on my part during the early years of the project, as training and mentoring takes time. Our project was completed by those we worked with, and trained. And it appears that the Old Testament will be done by them as well.

Later, as a Translation Consultant, in another country, I strongly encouraged one of the mother tongue translators I worked with to carry on with training to become a translation consultant, especially for other neighboring translators, but also for others in the same country, because of the potential I saw in him to do that. A presentation made at the BT Conference led me to ask this question:

What if we as co-translators, translation consultants, and translation educators intentionally considered every translator as a potential translation consultant? And, given the number of years required to do a translation, what if translators began learning and being mentored earlier on to do translation advising and consulting? 

At the recently completed Bible Translation Conference, David Ross of The Seed Company and formerly of SIL, suggested that currently, worldwide, there may be around 300 translation consultants. He went on to say that given the number of translations still needed, we may need somewhere around 700 or more translation consultants eventually in order to finish the task. Could greater intentionality in the training and development of translators as Translation consultants help to meet the need? Certainly, we are doing this already. But just as certainly, more could be done.

Teryl Gonzalez of Wycliffe USA, formerly of the Seed Company and SIL, in her presentation during the final plenary of the Bible Translation Conference suggested that the numbers of aging translators, translation consultants, and other participants in the BT task present to us not a liability that has to be managed, but an opportunity. She suggested that with what we are learning in the areas of mentoring and training, the decades of experience represented in our aging workforce can be turned into a great opportunity for us as organizations to raise up (a) new generation(s) of translators and consultants, generously equipped to work toward completion of the task.

We are observing an outpouring of interest, motivation for, and participation in the Bible translation movement from our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world. Young women and men who are enthusiastic followers of Jesus are asking how they can be involved in Bible translation. The pathway for that is not always clear or well-defined. Let us examine how we work in order that the skills and best practices learned over many years can be efficiently passed on to these so that what remains to be done in Bible translation can continue to be accomplished well and in God’s time. And let each of us do our part to make sure that what we have learned will be passed on to someone else to use with even greater efficiency and effectiveness in order that God’s Word may be accessed in the months and years to come by every language community that still needs it.

2021 Bible Translation Conference Report
Dick Kroneman

The Bible Translation (BT) 2021 Conference took place from 15-19 October, 2021. It was a virtual conference with around 1,000 registered participants representing 180 different organizations and connecting by Whova and Zoom from all over the globe. The theme of the conference was: “Paradigms of Bible Translation: Mission, Goals, and Assumptions.”

Every day began with a time of worship and reflection on God’s Word. The worship teams and the devotional speakers did a great job in connecting us with God and his Word. During the Conference, 146 topics / papers were presented (five plenary sessions and 141 breakout sessions, which included 17 sessions of the Francophone track). In addition, there were 12 discussion group sessions and 15 exhibitors’ breakout sessions.  A broad range of topics was discussed related to Bible translation, orality, sign language, exegesis, Biblical languages, language technology, Scripture engagement, contextualization, etc.

The plenary sessions included the Beekman lectures (by Dr. Ernst Wendland), the Nida lecture (by Dr. Sameh Hanna), the Lamin Sanneh lecture (by Dr. Michel Kenmogne), and the Closing address (by Mrs. Teryl Gonzalez). This was the first time the Lamin Sanneh lecture was presented. The Lamin Sanneh lecture was instituted to stimulate reflection and research related to the intersection of Bible translation, Scripture engagement, missiology, culture, and historical research.

The BT 2021 Steering Committee has been meeting once a month since the previous BT conference in 2019 in order to plan this conference. The committee consists of seven members: three from DIU (Doug Tiffin, Shelley Ashdown, Bill Harris), four from SIL (Dick Kroneman, Ellen Jackson, Jim Clarke, Mark Kull), and one from Nida Institute (Reinier de Blois). Ellen Jackson served as the overall Conference coordinator.

Based on the feedback we have received so far, the conference was very much appreciated by the participants. The presenters gave thought-provoking presentations, which were followed by good Q & A sessions. The technical team (Kate Brenner, Jose Escobar, and John Oh) did an excellent job in taking care of internet connectivity and in quickly overcoming the technical challenges they encountered. Many other volunteers were helping as moderators, abstracts committee members (anonymous), finance and communication assistants, etc. 

Bible Translation Conference Impressions
Prompting Innovative Thinking on Bible Translation

The recently concluded Bible Translation Conference 2021 had 146 papers and 12 discussion groups prompting a lot of innovative thinking about Bible translation. Below is a sampling of the excellent papers presented (contact the presenter for access to their presentation):

• David Ross - Rethinking Quality Assurance in Bible Translation 
• Dick Kroneman - God’s Eternal Truth Expressed in Contextual Bible Translation
• Eric Fields - Discourse Analysis and New Testament Studies: A Critical Appraisal
• Erwin Komen and Roman Kim - Consultant Checking Oral Bible Stories: A Case Study
• Teryl Gonzalez - All the Paradigm We Need (closing plenary session)
• Ernst Wendland - People, Paradigms, and Purpose—Reflecting on our Pilgrimage in Bible Translation (Beekman Lecture plenary) 
• Sophia Pitcher - The Masoretic Cantillation Accents: A Prosodic Orthography for the Hebrew Bible 
• Dick Kroneman - Measuring Human Flourishing and Vernacular Scripture Impact
• Mark Gaddis – The Consulting Registry: Tracking BT consulting at an entity, project or individual level
• Elizabeth Robar, Katie Frost, Ryan Sikes - Psalms Layer by Layer
• Sameh Hanna - Paradigms, Paradigm Shifts and Paradigm Conflicts in Bible Translation: Insights from Translation Studies (Eugene A. Nida Lecture plenary session)
• Phil King - Bible Translation Communities of Practice
• Michel Kenmogne - Bible Translation and World Christianity: Implications for Translation Practice in the 21st Century (Sanneh Lecture plenary)
• Murray Salisbury - Psalm 62 unpacked for performance – and for translation 
• Paul Kroeger - Translating ambiguous reason clauses
• Michael Jemphrey - discussion group on "Translation and Contextualization"
• Teryl Gonzalez – All about cohorts: the good, the bad and the ugly
• Mark Karan – A Biblical Argument for Meaning Based Translation

DTL Training Modules Available
Phil King

The first full training certificate of the Digital Training Library, Foundations in Bible Translation is now available in English. It consists of 12 modules, with content appropriate for brand new translators, as well as consultants-in-training, translation team leaders, and any translation professionals who want to guide others through learning the basics of Bible translation.

If you think this might be useful for a team you are working with, you can try the first three modules, which are currently free to access:

1. Language, Theology and Mission
2. Understanding and Meaning-Making
3. Introduction to Translation

You can get them as an individual through the Fuller website, but there is also a Team Hub app that you can use with a group of people, to support each other while working through the modules. If you'd like to try out the Team Hub, please email Susie Lipps hello@digitaltraininglibrary.org. The rest of the modules in Certificate 1 cost a total of $750 USD, but scholarships are available. Contact Susie Lipps or Phil King if you would like to know more about this.

Global Consultant Pool
Bill Bivin

SIL’s Global Consultant Pool (GCP) was created as a joint partnership with several Wycliffe organizations (e. g. US, Netherlands). It seeks to provide personalized and strategic management of translation consultants who have remote assignments (i.e. those living and working out of their home countries). Once a consultant leaves the field, they often experience professional and personal isolation from colleagues. The GCP was created to address this very real issue. It provides a community for these consultants by encouraging professional interaction, promoting the training of CiTs by the group’s experienced consultants, and holds monthly meetings. One benefit for CiT training within the GCP is that CiT’s are able to work with multiple consultants and thus benefit from different checking, exegetical and note-writing practices and professional interests.

Professional development is encouraged. Consultants regularly share news about exegetical and theological books and articles they are reading in preparation for their upcoming checking and training.  The GCP is committed to seeking to keep its consultants working in the geographical region, linguistic area, and Organizational Units (OU) that they have historically worked in.  This common-sense approach is a win-win for everyone: translation teams, the consultant, OUs and the GCP.

The group currently has members in Australia, India, Switzerland, Spain, England, the Netherlands, the USA and Canada. The consultants are working on projects in all areas of the world. For more information, email Bill Bivin or contact by phone (+1 214-680-1103). 

TCDW Online 2022
Angie Foo

Angie Foo and her Asia Translation Coordinators team are organizing the next Online Translation Consultant Development Workshop (TCDW) from 30 May to 01 July 2022 (5 weeks). This will be an excellent opportunity to gain the skills necessary for serving others as a Translation Consultant. As space is limited, preference is given to the best qualified applicants who apply before the deadline of 31 December 2021. To request an application or for more information, please email Angie Foo. The five week program will consist of: 

• Weeks 1-2: Online classroom training in translation checking techniques and other consultant skills
• Weeks 3: Online exercises on translation consulting
• Weeks 4-5: Online checking of translations under the supervision of experienced Translation Consultants

Competency-Based Certification (CBC): Pilot Testing
Phil King

The software to support the Competency-Based Certification (CBC) process for consultant development is now ready for pilot testing. Small groups of mentors and consultants-in-training from several different organisations will be experimenting with the new system (and the competencies it incorporates) in November. If you want to find out more, email Phil King or Bibi Nedellec. CBC will also be the topic of discussion at the next meeting of the Bible Translation Training and Development Community of Practice, at 0730 or 1630 UTC on Thursday, 04 November. You can sign up through these links or EMDC.online if you would like to participate.

Pioneering African Bible Translator
Samuel Ajayi Crowther

The story of Samuel Ajayi Crowther's (1807-1891) life is inspiring for his innovation in the Africa of the 1800s. He was born in Ośogun in the Yoruba empire of Oyo (present-day eastern Benin and western Nigeria). As the Africa Impressions article of October 2021 says, Crowther is remarkable for the many “firsts” by which his life was marked.

• He was almost certainly the first native of sub-Saharan Africa to write a lexicon and grammar of his first language (Yoruba), as well as publishing works focused on other languages.
• Ajayi was probably the first to be the principal actor in the translation of the Bible into his mother tongue.
• He was the first African to be ordained an Anglican bishop.
• He was one of the first Africans to establish an entirely African mission to unreached people groups living along the Niger River.

Andrew Walls says in his article (page 18):

• The significance of the Yoruba version has not always been observed.
• It was not the first translation into an African language; but, insofar as Crowther was the leading influence in its production, it was the first by a native speaker.
• Crowther insisted that the translation should indicate tone, a new departure.

For further Information: 

• Wikipedia article and African Orbit article
• The Legacy of Samuel Ajayi Crowther by Andrew F. Walls (1992, International Bulletin of Missionary Research)
• A Valuable Indigenous Initiative in Bible Translation: The story of Samuel Ajayi Crowther - "Africa Impressions" October 2021

Useful Links

• Email the SIL International Translation Resources Office
• International Translation Services ILS Google page
• Join/visit the SIL Translation Resources Google Group
• Visit the public SIL.org/Translation site
• Purchase Translation Resources at SIL.org/Resources/Publications 
• Mentoring Matters website 
• Consultant Development and Management Team

SIL International Translation Services Leadership Team

• Greg Dekker - ITS Director
• Dick Kroneman - International Coordinator for Translation Research and Practice 
• Paul O'Rear - International Coordinator for Translation Resources
• Phil King - International Coordinator for Translation Training and Development
• Nathan Payne - International Coordinator for Oral Translation Services
• Bill Bivin - Global Consultant Pool Director
• Brian Migliazza - Bamboo Project Manager

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Copyright © 2021 SIL International Translation Services. All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because of your interest in translation updates.

This newsletter is produced by SIL International Translation Services. Editors are Tuula O'Rear and Brian Migliazza. It contains items of interest for translation personnel within SIL and related organizations. It includes notices of upcoming conferences and workshops, announcements of recent dissertations and journal articles, and pointers to useful information related to translation.
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International Translation Services
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