Postscript

Maik teaching a translation course at NEGST.
Photos by Zeke du Plessis

On university campuses around the world, you can find translation workers and linguists using their experience to train others.  In Nairobi four people have been seconded from our organization to serve the Nairobi Evangelical School of Theology (NEGST) as professors in their Master’s and PhD programs.   These four men are the faculty of the NEGST translation department.

Steve, Maik, and Andy, meeting together at NEGST. They are all members of the translation department faculty at NEGST.

Most students attending NEGST are from one of the many nations in Africa, but some students also come to NEGST from Asia, Europe and the Americas. Students can choose to study translation on the Master’s or PhD level.  Students graduating with degrees in these programs may choose a career in Bible translation or use this knowledge to enrich another ministry that they pursue.

Translation courses are also part of the Master’s of Divinity program.  One reason for this is to help these students to discern appropriate languages of ministry for the given context where they will or are currently ministering.  For example, what languages will be most effective in communicating the gospel with a given congregation; when should a pastor or evangelist use a trade language like English; when should they use a local language; what translation of the Bible should they use; how can they support translation programs?  In contexts in the US where English is predominant, it’s easy to forget how multilingual much of the rest of the world is and how important choosing the right language can be to effective ministry.

The translation studies program at NEGST is one of the strategies for both casting vision for Bible translation among ministry leaders in Africa and equipping more Africans to be involved in Bible translation work in their mother tongue or another language.   Ministry leaders that value and promote scriptures translated into languages their congregations understand well, can be instrumental in supporting current translation programs or encouraging their congregations to use scriptures already translated into their local languages.  Congregations that are using scriptures translated into a language they understand well will grow deeper in their faith and will be able to more effectively communicate the gospel to others.

Popularity: 19% [?]

We went by car from Maroua, Cameroon to N’Djamena, Tchad.  With almost 1 million people this is the capital and largest city in Tchad.  We’re staying on the SIL Tchad compound for a couple of nights until we leave to go further east in Tchad.  Two workshops were in session today–a literacy workshop and a workshop for translators on the New Testament book of Hebrews. I caught up with the translation workshop participants when they were in small group sessions after the main teaching.

Expatriate staff (that is staff working outside of their home countries) often serve in training and consulting roles.  Local staff often do as well.  Together, they train and advise local language communities to develop their languages, translate scriptures, conduct literacy programs for children and adults, help Christians to use translated scriptures, and more.

When a language community is trained to conduct these activities themselves and provided appropriate help through the process, it produces more local ownership of projects which in turn helps the community to develop.  The skills they learn can help them continue projects even if expatriates are not able to provide further assistance.

Popularity: 12% [?]