MARCH 2024 Translation News

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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.

March 2024 What do we mean by ‘church'? - Phil King Interviews with Translation Consultants Minie Mathew (South Asia) Kathy Taber (Asia) What’s your AI Quotient? - Phil King News and Updates Key Terms of the Old Testament - new release Exegetical Summary Series - Distin Wilson Biblical Scholar Needed for Proofreading & Editing - Global Publishing Services Discounts for Biblical Hebrew Online Classes - Jochanan Löwenstein FLExTrans EMDC Track - May 2024 Coming Events SILTEC 4 (SIL Taller de Entrenamiento en Consultoría) (March 2024) Peru Global Missional AI Summit (April 2024) Orlando Anglo-Lusophone Africa TCDW (AFTRACT) (May 2024) Kenya Francophone Grammar for Translation (May 2024) Cameroon EMDC (May 2024) Thailand TCDW (Jun - July 2024) Asia Literacy and Education Global Gathering (July 2024) Kenya Indonesian TCDW (LPKP) (Jun - Sep 2024) FLEx Parser Workshop (Dallas) Aug 2024 Narrative Discourse Analysis for Translation Workshop (Oct 2024) Kenya

Useful Links SIL Translation Services International Leadership Team Area Translation Coordinators

-- from Greg Dekker, ITS Director -We have had some discussions within the ITS leadership team lately about a topic that has undoubtedly received a lot of attention with many of you as well. This month’s ITS Newsletter article is presented by Phil King who nicely synthesizes many of our thoughts and helps us to navigate through the issue.

What do we mean by ‘church'?

• Phil King, ITS Training & Development At the moment, I frequently find myself in conversations about Bible translation and ‘the church’. One of the three key priorities of SIL’s Global Plan is ‘connected to the church’, and it is prompting good internal discussions. Recently there have been Area-Global SIL discussions (called “SIL Connect”) around SIL’s Global Plan where much conversation has been had on this topic as well. With another hat, I’m part of a group that meets weekly to talk about Quality Assurance processes in Church- and Community-based Bible Translation, with a vision to see ‘the global Church empowered for quality Bible translation rooted in their experience and expertise’. So what we mean by “church” is frequently taking centre stage in our conversations. As I talk with others about these initiatives, there are a variety of common responses about them, including: ‘we’ve always worked with churches’; ‘we are ourselves part of the church’, or ‘there is no church in the area where I work’. These responses highlight the variety of inferences we make when we hear words like ‘church’, ‘churches’ or ‘the church’. We probably all have different images that come to our mind first when we hear those words, which shape our ideas when we think about being connected to ‘the church’ in Bible translation. Maybe your mind goes first to a local congregation of God’s people, or to the overall body of believers in a particular area, or to an organisation of the people of God with some kind of leadership structure. These pictures are influenced by our own experiences of ‘church’. For me, it helps to try to work out what picture of ‘church’ people are working with if I really want to understand what they are advocating. Tim Jore’s article ‘Trustworthy and Trusted’ is helpful in its use of a descriptor. He emphasises the importance of the ‘lingual church’. By this he means an element of the global church (including all traditions that are faithful expressions of sound doctrine) that speaks a particular language. Others emphasise the importance of Bible translation being integrated into church organisational infrastructure, rather than structures imposed by other national or global agencies. In this reference to ‘church’, the emphasis is on a process that is owned, led and managed by an established, usually local, formation of God’s people. In the SIL Global Plan, there’s a recognition that SIL is part of the global Church and needs to stay closely connected to it, affirming that SIL has traditionally had strong relationships with church leaders at the community level, but desires to grow our connections at national and global levels. From a semantic point of view, I think the reality of language use means that it’s futile to try to prevent a 'sloppy use' of words like ‘church’, or agree on a precise definition. Rather, we need to recognise that words like 'church' (as with ‘missionary’ or ‘missions’) are going to evoke different knowledge frames in the minds of different hearers, and that is going to create significant entailments and implications - and miscommunications - when people use these words as they talk to each other. Conversations with Greg are also challenging me to think about how different understandings of ‘church’ have an impact on our understanding of missiology, and vice versa. To what extent is Bible translation a missional task of the church as an institutional organisation, or a ministry outworking of our missional identity as God’s people, an identity founded in who we are, individually and corporately, in the mission of God? This has implications for how we view the leading, management, and engagement in Bible translation by whatever formation of God’s people we are referring to, whether formal / institutional organisations of the church, or missionally-minded formations of God’s people that transcend individual church networks. So what picture comes to mind when you think of Bible translation and ‘the church’? Or do you find yourself saying ‘churches’ in order to help remove any ambiguity? What experiences have you had, whether good or bad, that shape how you think about this topic? Let’s hear your responses and we may just publish some of them in our next newsletter!

Interviews with Translation Consultants We asked two experienced Translation Consultants, Minie Mathew and Kathy Taber, to share their thoughts concerning their work and philosophy of ministry.

Minie Mathew -

South Asia

How did you get interested in Bible translation? I heard about Bible translation during my college days through a friend who attended the first IICCC linguistic course (Indian Institute of Cross Culture Communication) in India. She shared about the different minority languages, cultures, the need of Bible translation in India and the linguistic course. When I first heard her, my impression was that I am not capable of doing this extensive linguistic work as I am not interested in learning languages. Moreover, I believed that God had called me for some other purposes. However, God in His Sovereignty led me to different meetings and mission conferences. I began to consider the different ethnic groups in my nation for whom there is no written language. Having the Bible in my own language allowed me to grow spiritually. But what about those who lack it? They would most likely hear the gospel shared with them, but if the Word is not available in their own tongue, how can they grow spiritually? These thoughts sparked my curiosity and motivated me to dedicate myself to Bible translation. The book "God spoke Tibetan" has further increased my dedication to this honorable work. What gets you excited when you work with others in Bible translation? Learning from the Word, others and fellowship excite me the most. The Word we translate teaches and transforms us personally. While working with teams, I usually encourage the teams to reflect on the Scripture portions that we have worked on and share their thoughts in the group. This activity encourages each one to realize the various ways that God speaks through different people. Furthermore, working with others contributes to a deeper understanding of many cultures and groups, and the greater impact it brings on Kingdom purposes. What is your consulting philosophy? Each translation project and community is different. I see myself in the role of a facilitator to guide the team to do a quality translation. Many times, consulting sessions are also training sessions. I make an effort to be thorough and specific when working with the team, rather than making them feel that I am an expert. Usually, I request the team to share their translation brief (if they have one) and I then consult based on that. If they don’t have one, I would discuss with them the background of the project and try to find the prominent features of the language family and their culture. Having said so, if I strongly feel that the team’s position on certain issues is not agreeing with the intended meaning of the text or their translation brief, I encourage them to do more research with the community and reconsider their position on that issue/topic. What translation resources do you really value? It depends on the books that I work on. I value the resources available mostly in Paratext and Logos. I also prefer BibleWorks and Accordance when there isn’t much help available for some of the OT books. How do you share your translation discoveries with others? I share via things like Training Workshops, Consultant checking sessions and Community of Practice sessions. Can you share about a time when you realized you were wrong and what you learned from it? Once I finished working with a team on 2 Samuel and a few months later, one of my colleagues sent an email seeking help on translating 2 Sam 12:30. I noted that there is a textual variant and that I need to do further research on this.

(a) Was this the Ammonite king's crown or their idol, Molech's crown that David took? (b) Was it one precious jewel on the crown or plural- jewels? (c) Was it the precious stone that David took and put in his crown? While doing the study on this verse, I realized that I overlooked the textual variant while working with the team. The team had followed the LWC translation. So, I wrote to the team and shared my findings and suggested to keep a footnote, as another LWC version has translated differently. The lessons that I learned was to check with the team's LWC versions available for them especially when there are textual variants, different possible interpretations - majority or minority views. Also, that I should get back to the team with the correction even at a later stage. What are your top tips for someone starting on a career path in Bible translation? Understand that many years of learning, teamwork and hard work are involved in this career. Results may not be seen immediately. So be encouraged, humble and patient. Share something that you learned from a mentor or from a mentee. A mentor is always approachable, with whom you can relate and share your concerns confidently and who will encourage, pray, and stand with you. Most of the things that I shared above, I have learned from my mentors and continue to do so, as I still approach them for my learning and growth. A mentee should be teachable, willing to accept positive criticisms, work hard and persevere without giving up. What would you say to young/aspiring translators? First, keep in mind that God has called you to translate His Word into your language. This is a greater call. Be faithful to your calling. I started my involvement in Bible translation as an Other Tongue translator for a NT project in India, then moved to the role of Translation Advisor/ Facilitator for the same OT project, then to a CiT role, and now am a Translation Consultant and trainer. So, if you are determined, willing to learn and persevere, there is greater impact. Be confident that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Phil. 1:6)

Kathy Taber -

Asia

How did you get interested in Bible translation? I am the daughter of a Bible translator so Bible translation has surrounded me my whole life. However, I didn't think I was as smart as my dad so never considered going into that field, though I did feel a call to serve God overseas in some way. Because I loved sports and excelled a bit in them, I decided to become a Physical Education (PE) teacher and as a result this was my major in college. However, when I had to choose a language to study in college, I decided against Spanish, as I had already had three years of it in High School. I didn't really want to study French or German so I chose Greek, and I absolutely loved it. As I sat in the Houghton College library with lots of books surrounding me, lexicons, commentaries, etc., and I was enjoying myself immensely, the picture that came to my mind was of my father with all his books, doing translation. Perhaps I could do that after all! I ended up going to Linguistic training in Norman, OK between my junior and senior year of college and got one semester of my SIL training out of the way. I also joined SIL that summer. That next year, as I did my PE student teaching, I also took Bible courses from Moody, and right after graduating, finished my two other years of Linguistics, Anthropology and Translation training. I went overseas after that. I have now worked as a translator/ facilitator on a NT and much of the OT, trained others in translation, and been both a Bible translation consultant and a trainer of other consultants, who have then served in many places. I have also taught PE or coached, on the side, to MKs (Missionary Kids) in Indonesia, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. What gets you excited when you work with others in Bible translation? Seeing God's Word come alive and be life transforming when people suddenly understand it for the first time. It is amazing when people start sharing what God is teaching them through the newly translated Scriptures. I see those Scriptures pierce deep inside to whatever issue that person is struggling with or is in need of encouragement about. What is your consulting philosophy? I guess I would say, I am not really interested in helping people produce translations in their languages that are just as hard for them to understand as the national language that they already have. In these cases, they seem to either just keep using the national language translation or use a related language translation they can understand that is well done and clear. The extent to which a translation needs to be literal or dynamic for adequate understanding can be very language specific. People from a language group that have a lot of biblical knowledge due to years or generations of teaching can use a Bible that is quite a bit more literal, but the other is also true. For some languages the Bible needs to be translated a lot more dynamically in order for the people to understand very much at all. They also cannot look anything up in commentaries because these don't exist in their language. To determine the style of translation that will best help them I tend to rely a lot on good comprehension checks, even at the consultant desk. These comprehension checks really help to determine exactly what style that people group really need along the literal-dynamic continuum. (Of course, it also depends on what the determined target audience is within that language group because that will make a big difference as well.) What translation resources do you really value? To tell you the truth I tend to use just about everything that is made available to me, and especially those resources that ask and answer the kind of questions that a Bible translator or consultant needs to ask. I use Paratext, Logos, Translator's Workplace and all their materials which are especially geared for Translators and whatever is available on them. The UBS Translator's Handbook (TH) is good because it has been available for a long time and addresses every book of the Old and New Testament, especially dealing with translation type issues. The Translator's Notes (TN) Series is especially good for MTTs who can use simple English and explanations to help them translate the Scriptures into their own language. It is helpful for new consultants just learning, and especially MTTs learning to be consultants. However, these are not enough, by themselves, to deal with every issue that can arise due to the complexities of languages and cultures. Many times the choice of a word, phrase, or connection etc. cannot be done without further research. If TH or TN haven't answered the question, I might need to look at a commentary that talks more about background information regarding Hebrew culture or where one city is in contrast to another, whether a person is heading uphill, toward the sea etc. Sometimes one has complex exegetical issues or textual issues that require a translator to look at commentaries that deal with those in more detail. The Exegetical Summary commentary helps one get a quick birds-eye view of many issues all at once, such as textual, lexical, exegetical choices, and specific questions a translator might need to ask. The Semantic Structure Analysis series is very helpful for when a language has to restructure and reorder clauses or sentences and yet one still needs to keep the temporal and logical connections accurate, so that although the structure changes, the logic of the argument does not. This is especially helpful for difficult Epistle material. There are lots of other more broader commentaries like Word Biblical Commentary etc. In short, the specific challenges a given language has may require one to look at a number of different resources in order to render as accurately as possible. How do you share your translation discoveries with others? I often present at Bible Translation conferences, as well as other translation meetings. I also teach at the TCDW and the teaching videos I have developed for that have been shared with both individuals and other schools or platforms where more formal training occurs. I also often share personally, either by answering emails or sending resources, as well as, sharing face-toface when I check for people on their own Bible translations or when I mentor a consultantin-training. Can you share about a time when you realized you were wrong and what you learned from it? When I first started consulting, I would see something that I thought was a problem in the team's back translation and ask them to change it. I would give them an example of how I thought it should be and I could be a bit rigid about my suggested change. I would do that over email or Paratext, before the face-to-face check. When we did the face-to-face check, I found that my wonderful suggestions didn't always work. From the answers of the comprehension checkers (UNS) at the face-to-face check, it was clear that my suggested change couldn't be understood. (This is one of the reasons why now, even at consultant checks, I rely very much on the answers of the comprehension checkers (UNSes)). I realized that when we check as consultants we tend to think in Greek/Hebrew/English or even the national language of the country and by how the grammars of those languages work. We do this even when we are not aware of it. So, I try to make sure I am always listening carefully to UNSes and MTTs. Of course, this has to be a continual give-and-take, because, although people understand their own language well, in difficult passages (for which there are many) they frequently don't know what the source text means. They often need help in order to accurately reflect the original (source) language/text in their own (target) language translations. What are your top tips for someone starting on a career path in Bible translation Seek to do good work, even if it takes time and effort. Honor God with work well done. Persevere, be patient and fully depend on God. Share something that you learned from a mentor or from a mentee? The consultant that taught me the most, also taught me the importance of work well done and at the same time encouraged me to keep on keeping on even when I was discouraged. Her passion for people to have God's Word was contagious. One of my most impactful memories was when she was the consultant checking for the translation team for which I was the facilitator. She received a letter or email during our break time. In that letter it said that someone she knew, either because of health issues or the death of a relative, was no longer able to continue on with the translation of the Bible in a particular language. Tears fell from her eyes as she cried for the people from that language group--how long now would they have to wait? What do you see as the place of the church in Bible translation? The church needs to be supporting Bible translation in every way they can, regularly and sacrificially, through prayer, giving, sending, encouraging etc. However, God gives different people different gifts, some are for preaching, teaching etc. but the ability to do Bible translation is often a different gift than either preaching or teaching. People need to fill in according to the gifts that God gives them. People with different gifts work together to accomplish the task of Bible translation, and all are needed, serving according to giftedness, working together even across language, cultural and race differences. What would you say to young/aspiring translators? The same as I said above for a closely related question. But I would also add to hold onto God's promise that His Word will accomplish whatever He has for it to accomplish, and that promise holds true even when we cannot see that happening. Also, they should seek to be continual learners. That can be done in a lot of ways like through more schooling, or even learning online, going to BT conferences and workshops. Learn from others who have lots of experience and do good work. If there is something tried and true and proven through experience, don't just automatically throw it out for something new. See how you can get the best of both old and new and apply them. Don't get stuck in your ways or avoid trying something, especially if it is tried and proven true. Don't avoid it because you think it will take too much work.

What’s your AI Quotient?

• Phil King - ITS Training and Development In the February meeting of the Bible Translation Training and Development Community of Practice, Max from SABDA (Indonesia) helped us think through some of the foundational issues for Bible Translation training and AI (Artificial Intelligence). He reminded us that AI is here, it’s here to stay, it’s going to change everything - and we need to deal with it! A new concept for me was that of an AI Quotient -- AIQ; parallel to IQ (Intelligence Quotient) and EQ (Emotional Quotient). AIQ measures a person's ability to understand, implement and utilize AI effectively and correctly in various contexts. This AIQ brings together at least three things: your AI literacy (eg. familiarity with AI tools and concepts, their strengths and weaknesses, and how to communicate well with AI); your AI intelligence (eg. knowing how to write effective prompts, how to adapt to developments in AI, how to creatively innovate with AI outputs, and how to know when the AI is hallucinating); and AI responsibility (eg. being aware of ethical issues, knowing when AI is damaging one’s own character, understanding how to use AI in ministry). Max challenged us to rate our ‘AI maturity’: to what extent do we have the digital citizenship skills, technical knowledge, communication skills, learning agility, domain knowledge, creativity and experience to function well using AI in our Bible translation roles in today’s world? I’m still pondering the implications of this for training translators and others involved in Bible translation. As more and more AI based tools and processes are becoming available, how are our training events helping participants develop the AI maturity they need to work appropriately with them? And for those of us who are trainers, how are we developing our own AI Quotient sufficiently to be guides for others? How much progress have we made at inviting AI as a co-teacher into our classrooms? I’d love to know your thoughts! In a future session we’ll invite Max back to hear more about his thoughts on how AI is changing the training needs specifically for Bible translators. It would be great to see you there - sign up through emdc.online.

News and Updates Key Terms of the Old Testament

• updated KTOT-9 release The KTOT (Key Terms of the Old Testament) team are glad to announce the ninth release of six articles, bringing the total to 98 articles available. For the first time, this release includes an English Index, thanks to Jeff Shrum. Go to the Paratext KTOT webpage and download the new "KTOT File." Follow the instructions on the FAQ webpage to move the KTOTSLD.p8z file to your _Dictionaries folder in My Paratext 8 Projects or My Paratext 9 Projects (replacing any existing KTOTSLD file in the _Dictionaries folder).

Exegetical Summary Series

• Dustin Wilson The very popular Exegetical Summary Series continues to provide valuable scholarly interpretation of the Greek or Hebrew biblical text phrase by phrase. A broad spectrum of students and translators find these resources helpful in producing meaningful translations of the original Biblical text despite varying levels of exegetical skills. Seminarians, pastors and ministers with elementary exegetical skills will find these volumes similarly helpful for study and sermon preparation. Each volume in the series works through the original text with English equivalents for all Hebrew and Greek words provided. Where do I find the ESS? The series is available for purchase from many online book retailers and can also be found on LOGOS Bible Software, Accordance Bible Software, and Olive Tree Bible Software. These books remain very popular and are often part of seasonal and annual sales by the Bible software companies. Information about the available print books are found on the SIL International Publications website. The series is also available to Bible translators as part of the Translator’s Workplace software.

Biblical Scholar Needed for Proofreading & Editing

• Global Publishing Services Are you a biblical scholar who also enjoys proofreading and editing? There is an active need and high interest in the biblical scholarship market for many books from SIL. The Global Publishing Services department is actively looking for a new proofreader for the Exegetical Summary Series. The series is expanding further into the Old Testament with the upcoming OT Lectionary ES Series, and there are revisions to existing New Testament Exegetical Summary Series books to publish. For more information, please email Global Publishing Services.

Discounts for Biblical Hebrew Online Classes

• Jochanan Löwenstein Discount codes and scholarships are now available for Biblical Hebrew as a Living Language courses starting March 11th at Jerusalem Seminary. Jochanan Löwenstein says that there are still spots available! Multiple time slots are available for Level 1 and Level 2 with the aim of serving the Eastern and Western hemispheres. Placement tests are available to determine which level is most fitting. Click on this link to sign up and access discount codes and the scholarship application. More and more Israelis from the local body in Israel are catching the vision to share our gift of native Hebrew in support of Bible Translation and we are so excited to be able to offer more options. The goal is to get you reading the Bible fluently in the original language, but along the way you will find yourself surprised by the joy of writing, speaking, singing and even praying in Biblical Hebrew!

FLExTrans EMDC Track

• May 2024 Are you interested in new technologies to speed Bible translation? Are you convinced that linguistic groundwork is a key component of a quality translation? Sign up for the FLExTrans pre-EMDC training track when you register for EMDC. We are excited to offer again a 4-day FLExTrans training track at pre-EMDC in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The track will go from 22-25 May. FLExTrans is a rule-based machine translation for related languages. The reason it is called “FLEx”-trans is that it is very FLEx-centric. See this document, FLExTrans EMDC Track for more details.

Coming Events 2024 - 04-15 March. SILTEC 4 (SIL Taller de Entrenamiento en Consultoría) Consultant Training program in Spanish, Lima, Peru. Contact Rick Floyd. 2024 - 09-11 April. Global Missional AI Summit. Orlando, Florida. Click here to register. Speakers: Spence Green, James Poulter, Daniel Whitenack. 2024 - 18-31 May. Anglo-Lusophone Africa TCDW (AFTRACT). CiT training, Ruiru, Nairobi Kenya. Contact Jonathan van den Broek. Jointly organised by SC, SIL and BTL. 2024 - 1-28 May. Francophone Grammar for Translation. Cameroon. Registration form. 2024 - 27-30 May. EMDC. Registration is Open. Chiangmai, Thailand. 2024 - 10 June - 19 July. TCDW (Translation Consultant Development Workshop). Hybrid. For information email Angeline Foo. 2024 - 01-05 July. Literacy and Education Global Gathering , Nairobi, Kenya. Registration information. Contact Diane Dekker or Elizabeth Roettele. 2024 - 24 June - 06 September. Indonesian TCDW (LPKP). For information email the Director. 2024 - 12-23 Aug: FLEx Parser Workshop, Dallas, Texas. The translation quality of any language is greatly improved when parsers are used, since they point out inconsistent writing, help determine word breaks, check words for grammatical consistencies, and contribute in many ways to the grammatical analysis of the language. When Paratext is integrated with FLEx, the quality of translation can dramatically increase through the rigorous application of these parsers. 2024 - 09-29 October. Narrative Discourse Analysis for Translation Workshop. Nairobi, Kenya.

Useful Links Bible Translation Consultant Competencies / YouTube channel for BT Competencies Journal of Translation SIL Senior Translation Consultants Email the SIL International Translation Office International Translation Services ILS Google page Join/visit the SIL Translation Resources Google Group Visit the public SIL.org/Translation site Find Translation Resources (both free download and for purchase) SIL.org/Resources/Publications Bamboo Project website Mentoring Matters website - Mentor Training Courses Consultant Development and Management Team Progress.Bible Information Memoriam website

SIL Translation Services International Leadership Team Greg Dekker - ITS Director Angeline Foo - 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 Viji Mathew - Director, Global Consultant Pool Brian Migliazza - ITS Operations and Project Management

Area Translation Coordinators Angeline Foo & Amber Jasa - Asia Greg Carlson - Pacific Drew Maust - Francophone Africa Jonathan van den Broek - Anglo-Lusophone Africa Tim Robinson (interim) - Eurasia Rick Floyd & Dwight Shaver - Americas Yuki Yamada - Global Sign Languages Team (GSLT)

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