Translation News May 2022

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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.

May 2022

• Well-Nourished - Paul O'Rear
• New Translation Consultants - 
  • Sudheer Garnipudi (South Asia)
  • Bibin Thomas (South Asia) 
  • Gorre Murali (South Asia)
• 12 May 2022: Bible Translation Training and Development CoP - Phil King
• Missional AI - Paul O'Rear
• Mentoring Matters Website - Michael Jemphrey
• New Programs at 4.2.20-IBLT Jerusalem - Ricki Gidoomal
• John Beekman Video Overview
• Now With The Lord -
  • Esther Strahm (1934-2022) Asia
  • Fritz Goerling (1944-2022) Africa

Useful Links
SIL Translation Services

• International Leadership Team
• Area Translation Coordinators

-- from Greg Dekker, ITS Director --
In the March ITS Newsletter, I opened with a thought on SIL’s relationship within the Church. This was the first in what continues this month as the third in a 3-part introduction to the three “anchors” which are shaping SIL planning these days. This month Paul O’Rear, International Coordinator for Translation Resources, talks about the anchor, “Well-Nourished” and how this concept impacts SIL and all of us as partners in the Bible Translation Movement.

Well-Nourished
Paul O'Rear

Last month, Phil King, talking about the anchor, “Locally Rooted”  expressed how we are all parts of the same body and how we need each other. He used the Apostle Paul’s imagery of “the Body” in 1 Corinthians 12. He extended that metaphor to the ways we engage with each other across our global organization – encouraging those of us working in more global contexts to recognize the value and contributions of the local movements and vice versa.

In a similar fashion, I feel we (inclusive) need to extend that metaphor to our broader community of donors/ supporters/ partners/ funders. Just as with Phil’s observations concerning the Global vs. Local perspectives, we need to be careful about any potential assumptions made between funder and funded. From the funder side it may be possible to view the funded as being unrealistic in their goals; perhaps being ‘too heavenly minded and no earthly good’; too idealistic; not willing to be accountable,  etc. From the funded side it may be possible to view the funder as being too intrusive; too business-minded; too narrowly-focused;  not appreciating our specific domain of expertise, etc. – particularly as we struggle with questions about what gets funded and what does not and why.

Sometimes if we, the funded, look at things more critically (in the positive sense of the word) – i.e. apply a point of view that we might associate more with the funder, it can be an helpful exercise, enabling us to re-evaluate the things that we are doing – to re-prioritize and re-affirm the things that are true to our calling and purpose. And sometimes to trim off those things that are not.

What I want to focus on here, though, is the more fundamental faith and trust parts of the equation that I believe God calls us to as we embrace His calling on our lives and work. Sometimes I find myself getting more contorted around trying to figure out projects that I think funders will fund rather than asking God what projects He would have us do and trusting and seeking His provision for the funding that would be needed. This contortion is most likely not the intent of the funder but can easily be a by-product without my own watchfulness. Knowing what the funders may wish to fund among the projects that we aspire to is helpful and can certainly address some of our funding needs. In many cases (if not most), God is using the funders to graciously supply the needs of the communities and projects we serve. We, the funded, need to appreciate the role and discernment of the funders within the body as with any other part, just as we would hope they would appreciate the roles and discernment of the funded.

When Tuula and I were beginning the road back to SIL after nearly 20 years away, the number one issue for us to address was one of trust – trust that the same God who allowed our support to diminish earlier could be calling us back again into a position of trust in His provision for this new season of ministry. The primary reason we left SIL back in the '90s was due to a drastic reduction in support,  largely due to our taking on roles State-side, after having left Papua New Guinea due to our son Samuel's special needs.

The Lord had been tugging at my heart after a 'dark night of the soul' period. I was working through the Greek New Testament and determined that when I came across a hard faith-related verse, that I had to somehow stick with it until I could make it my own - to not just pass over a difficult passage. One of those verses  was Matthew 19:26:

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” 

The context was more specifically addressing salvation following the 'eye of the needle' passage; however, I felt God was specifically saying to me: "What have you been considering impossible?" And perhaps more poignantly - "What have you been saying 'no' to, because you've been saying it's impossible?"

The number one thing that came to mind was returning to SIL. I began to entertain the reverse question, "If all things are possible with God, what would you be willing to consider?" Thus began an unexpected return to SIL in 2015.

Since our return, I've been trying to incorporate this trust into my thinking. If all things are possible with God - what might God want to do here? with me? in my job? in my department? in my organization? Do I believe that if God wants it to be so, that He will provide for it? Notice the predication there – 'that if God wants it to be so.' This also assumes that I am in such a relationship with Him that I develop confidence and trust in my understanding of the things He wants to be so. Maybe they are only the slightest hints, but that's where we start. If it were possible, what might I entertain? What ‘impossible things’ have I not been entertaining? Might I have the audacity to approach the impossible?
 

 "I am the Vine; you are the branches … apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:5) 

The converse is also true – with Him we can do anything – if it’s His thing to do. This is how all the other illustrations work as well - 'moving mountains'; 'you will do greater things than these'…

What are you considering in your life and work that you feel is “impossible”? And, how are you doing in the Vine - are you well nourished? For what and to whom are you looking? How are we as God’s people doing in the Vine and for what and to Whom are we looking?

New Translation Consultants
Sudheer Garnipudi, Bibin Thomas and Gorre Murali

Sudheer Garnipudi - South Asia
Congratulations to Sudheer Babu Garnipudi (Rhema For the Nations, India) on completing all the requirements for certification as an entity-level Translation Consultant, including completion of the Asia TCDW 2020. Angie Foo and her Asia Bible Translation Coordination Team have verified that he is a qualified Translation Consultant and is now able to work independently with translation teams. His primary mentor was Milton Watts.

Rev. Sudheer Babu Garnipudi is from Tangutur, AP, India, and has been serving in pastoral ministry since 2011. He is married and has two children. Sudheer completed a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Divinity, and now is pursuing a Masters in Theology. In 2011 he began working in translation, starting as an advisor with the Jesus Film. Then he served as an Exegetical Advisor with the Kaylar Language teams. After completing further training with Wycliffe India (General Linguistics Course, Translation Theory and Practice, Paratext and Logos Trainings, CONNOTs Workshop, 2015 Siligury CiT training, India Diploma in Bible Translation, Bachelor in Bible Translation, and Cross-Cultural Course), he assisted the Nethakani team as a CiT. He provided training for some thirteen language teams -- book workshops, pre-consultant checking, Paratext and TW5 Training. He had supervised checking sessions under many experienced consultants and has served the Karidhan Project (two languages) as a coordinator.

His supervisor, Sudharani Prathipati, says:  

• Rev. Garnipudi Sudheer Babu has been involved in the translation ministry for the last 11 years.
• He translated a few books of the Bible.
• He also served the Lord as an adviser to the Nethakani and Kaylar language teams.
• Then he served as a CiT to 11 teams, encouraging them to improve their translations with constructive suggestions and providing them trainings in all areas of Translation and computing. Our teams appreciate his support.
• He worked with many senior consultants (Roman and Janice Stefaniw and others) and learned consultant skills and techniques. He is is involved in pastoral ministry. 
• We are happy to see him as an approved Consultant.
• We wish and pray that he will bring glory to the Lord as he will continue to serve the Lord as Bible Translation Consultant. 

Bibin Thomas - South Asia
Congratulations to Bibin Thomas (Rhema For the Nations, India) on completing all the requirements for certification as an entity-level Translation Consultant, including completion of the Asia TCDW 2020. Angie Foo and her Asia Bible Translation Coordination Team have verified that he is a qualified Translation Consultant and is now able to work independently with translation teams. His primary mentor was Janice Stefaniw.

Rev. Bibin Thomas was born in a Christian family in Kerala State and then grew up in Delhi, in the north. He has been involved in pastoral ministry for the past few years. Bibin and his wife have two daughters. Bibin has a Bachelor in Theology from Grace Bible college and a Bachelor of Bible Translation Studies (BBTS) from the Senate of Serampore. He is currently finishing up a Masters in Divinity.  He also completed the General Linguistics course from Wycliffe India. 

Bibin has been working in Bible translation ministry since 2012, beginning as an Exegetical Facilitator. In 2016 he began his CiT training in recognition of his talents and hard work. As a CiT he has assisted more than ten language communities. His CiT training included Bible Translation workshops, Greek and Hebrew workshops, Poetical book workshops and other Linguistics workshops. He has completed many translation checking sessions for both audio and written translations under the supervision of experienced consultants.

Gorre Murali - South Asia
Congratulations to Gorre Murali (Rhema For the Nations, India) on completing all the requirements for certification as an entity-level Translation Consultant, including completion of the Asia TCDW 2020. Angie Foo and her Asia Bible Translation Coordination Team have verified that he is a qualified Translation Consultant and is now able to work independently with translation teams. He was mentored by Anne Kompaore and his primary mentor was Rob Taylor.

Gorre Murali comes from the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. He and his wife, Swathi, have one son. Since 2017, they both have been serving in pastoral ministries in a rural area. After completing a Bachelor of Theology and a Bachelor of Divinity from Berean Baptist Bible seminary in 2011, Gorre Murali began serving with Beulah Ministries of India. He worked with the VAST project in six languages and played an important role translating and recording the Jesus Film.

From 2012 onwards, he worked with the Y  community as an exegetical facilitator in oral Bible Translation and helped them complete their NT translation. While he was working as an exegetical facilitator, he started his journey as a CiT in 2012. He also worked with seven more languages as a CiT, checking the back translations and providing training. He was blessed to understudy many experienced consultants. Gorre Murali also completed the Wycliffe India general linguistics course. In 2019 he received his Bachelor degree [BBTS] in Bible Translation from Serampore University, Kolkata and in 2021 was awarded his Masters in Divinity [M.Div.] from Ebenezer Theological Seminary.

12 May 2022: Bible Translation Training and Development CoP
Phil King

The next Bible Translation Training and Development CoP will provide an opportunity to hear from Youngshin Kim about YWAM's Mega OBT 1000 course, and the lessons learned while simultaneously delivering to 80 students across five different countries (South Africa, Papua New Guinea, Switzerland, Nigeria and the USA).

Join us to talk about some of the unique challenges of training for Oral Bible Translation, and of blending virtual and face-to-face delivery across the globe. The session will be at 0630 and 1530 UTC on Thursday 12th May 2022.  Sign up through the 'Communities' tab on EMDC online.

Missional AI
Paul O'Rear

In April 2022 at the International Linguistics Center (Dallas), many organizations and interested software developers gathered together at the Global Missional AI Summit to discuss developments and opportunities to see where Artificial Intelligence can be applied to a variety of problems to help streamline approaches to solving complex problems.

There were two primary tracks – Bible Translation and Kingdom Building. There was lots of good will in the room and enthusiasm for everyone to be working together to develop solutions to those problems. Those can range from ways of looking at natural language processing (NLP) in support of developing things like automating the creation of comprehension checking questions to innovative tools that lead a new believer to local churches and other more appropriately targeted ‘next step’ materials in their discipleship journeys.

The primary prayer would be that this good will would continue and that the tools and models that get applied result in genuinely helpful solutions in support of Bible translation and other Kingdom work.

Mentoring Matters Website
Michael Jemphrey

The Mentoring Matters website has been restructured with easy links to most relevant resources for mentors, mentees, leaders and managers. Email Michael Jemphrey and Eszter Ernst-Kurdi for further information. 

• Online courses: Introduction to  Mentoring: the 12th cohort starts September 2022.
• Practical Mentoring self-paced course: available from the end of April to support any mentor who has completed the Introduction to Mentoring course.

New Programs at 4.2.20-IBLT Jerusalem
Ricki Gidoomal

There are two new training programs being offered by the Institute for Biblical Language and Translation (IBLT) in Jerusalem and online. Contact Ricki Gidoomal for further information.

Specialized Programs in Biblical Hebrew & Translation Consulting for the Deaf. These are specialized programs for Deaf students in the Land of the Bible as part of IBLT's MA in Classical Hebrew and MA in Classical Hebrew & Translation Consulting. The unique location in Jerusalem provides immersion in written Hebrew and Israeli Sign Language, enhancing the process of learning Biblical Hebrew. Deaf instructors are employed in Jerusalem who are already experienced in teaching Hebrew to Deaf students. IBLT also provides supplementary instruction through qualified tutors who can sign and communicate directly with Deaf students. The MA in Biblical Hebrew & Translation Consulting has an optional Deaf Specialization which includes courses in special skill sets that consultants will need for working with sign language Bible translation projects.

Launch of our online Hebrew Extension Learning Program (HELP), a multi-certificate online program. The Hebrew Extension Learning Program is a distance learning program that builds upon the proven foundation of biblical source language training that 4.2.20-IBLT has successfully operated in Jerusalem to serve the specific goals of the Bible Translation movement, its agencies, translators and consultants.  HELP is a blended online course combining both synchronous and asynchronous instruction. It covers the training content of the intensive program in Jerusalem but is spread over a longer period so that it can accommodate translators’ and consultants’ ongoing responsibilities in the field. It is uniquely positioned to serve indigenous translators/consultants whether in a translation agency or CCBT context.

John Beekman Video Overview

Here is a short ten-minute overview of the life and ministry of John Beekman. 

• Click to view John Beekman video

Now With The Lord

Esther Strahm (1934-2022)
SIL Asia
(by Austin & Margrit Hale, Anita Maibaum, and Barb Naylor)

Our beloved colleague and friend Esther Strahm (of Switzerland) finished her earthly race after a very short illness on March 31, 2022 in Winterthur, Switzerland. She originally went in-country in 1969 and was part of the first-ever field training there. Through a city connection to a young J man, Esther and Anita were invited to stay with his large family near his village in 1970 where in due time they began work on the J translation project living out near the J community for much of the time until 1976, when they left the country. Recognizing the potential of this young man, the oldest son of the family, they were able to facilitate his studying medicine in the nearby country.

Esther & Anita were the first team to return in-country, for an initial exploratory visit. For much of the next 15 years, they traveled in and out on short-term visas, always aiming to translate 'one more book'. The J New Testament was finished in 1992. The current General Secretary of the local Bible Society was their primary co-translator. Through their encouragement he went on to study linguistics at Payap University. And all along, Esther and Anita worked diligently to see that the J Scriptures were being used. This was decades before the term 'Scripture Engagement' was ever used.

Esther and Anita were seminal in facilitating frequent gatherings of co-translators for encouragement during the years when persecution was a threat. In the 1990s, this group gained momentum and eventually led to the formation of NNLPI - a local language preservation institute. In 2005, a J dictionary was published through the local university. Esther served as a translation consultant for many subsequent translation projects, and was elected to serve on the Executive Committee multiple times.

Over her 50+ years serving in Asia, Esther (and Anita) touched the lives of so many SIL colleagues, extending warm hospitality to returning survey folks, Korean colleagues, new members and faithfully encouraging each of us when we needed it most (more lately with hand-written notes along with a bar of Swiss chocolate!). The same is true for our local colleagues, many of whom credit 'Didi-haru' with inspiring them to continue translation work, to work whole-heartedly for the Lord and to always look to Him.  

All along in their retirement years they actively kept encouraging the J fellowships in the villages and kept in touch with the members of "their family", many of whom are now in leadership positions in various places. As Dr. "O.J." expressed it: "I, on behalf of my family and other J's, would like to express our gratitude for Esther's life, which she dedicated to God's work among this J community."

No doubt Esther-didi has been welcomed by her Saviour with "Well done, good and faithful servant!"

Fritz Goerling (1944-2022)
SIL Africa

Dr. Fritz Goerling (1944-2022) of Germany passed away on 7 April 2022. As a young man, he learned of Wycliffe through his sister and her husband who worked in PNG. He then spent a lifetime working with SIL Africa, assisting the Jula people of Cote d'Ivoire to translate the entire Bible by 2012. This translation became a source text for many other translations. Fritz was a translation consultant and coordinator who encouraged new translation consultants and was a mentor to many. 

Useful Links

• Bible Translation 2023 Conference - 13-17 October 2023
• Journal of Translation
• 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 
• Bamboo Project website
• Mentoring Matters website - Mentor Training Courses
• Consultant Development and Management Team

SIL Translation Services

International 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 - Operations Manager

Area Translation Coordinators

• Angeline Foo - Asia
• David Nicholls - Pacific
• Michael Jemphrey - Francophone Africa
• Jonathan van den Broek - AngloLusophone Africa
• Thomas Hemphill - Eurasia
• Rick Floyd & Mike Miller - Americas 
• Yuki Yamada - Global Sign Languages Team (GSLT) 

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Copyright © 2022 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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