Postscript

I’m in El Salvador this week for our annual international communications meetings. El Salvador (the Republic of the Savior) is a small country south of Mexico and Guatemala.  We’re in the Capital, San Salvador.  It is positioned on a high plateau, so the temperature outside is just about perfect. The church in this country, like in many other countries around the world, is sending workers to other places in the world to work in Bible translation.

This week we’re leading a communications workshop for communications staff in the Americas, we’re spending time learning about the context of Bible translation work in the Americas, and in the later part of the week, we’ll be discussing international communications strategies and issues.

For the most part, Bible translation work in El Salvador is complete.  Of the six documented languages in El Salvador, three are nearly extinct or extinct, two have Scriptures and one has translation work in progress– Salvadorian Sign Language. That translation team provided our devotions this morning.  It included a dramatic presentation on a Scripture passage as well as an overview of their translation project.  Learn more about sign language translations.

My travels in Africa have typically taken me to countries where English or French were the languages of wider-communication. It’s been nice being in a Spanish-speaking country again.  I can practice the little bit of Spanish I remember from high school–”Hablo un poquito espanol.”

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With only two percent of the international Deaf community professing a belief in Christ, the Deaf are one of the most unreached people groups in the world. In this video, learn about how Wycliffe is working in Sign Language translations.  This is the second part of God Speaks My Language produced by 100 Huntley Street and Wycliffe Canada.

Learn more about sign language translation projects in Africa.

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The story behind the story…

Photo by Pete Houlihan

A significant part of my job here is to help get stories about what is happening in Bible translation and language development in Africa out for publicity.    In January the first set of scriptures translated into Kenya sign language were dedicated and distributed.  I arranged for two friends and fellow communicators to go to the event to cover it for Wycliffe.  Andy from AIM did videography (using a camera he borrowed from Taylor of SIM), and Salome from BTL went along to conduct the interviews.  Scott from Wycliffe USA commissioned us to do this and made the arrangements with the Christian Broadcasting Network in the US.

The video footage and interviews they did for me were passed on to Scott.  Then, they were used in a recent news story that aired on CBN in the US.  So cool. I’ve got it posted below so you can see it, too.

I’m excited to have been part of getting this story out to you.  It was also cool to see so many partners working together.

Learn more about Bible translation in African sign languages.

Provide financial resources to a sign language translation project.

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Photos by Zeke du Plessis (photos added March 31, 2010)

NAIROBI, KENYA–Scripture translations are in progress in six African sign languages which are located in Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi and Ethiopia. Translation teams are starting by translating a set of Chronological Bible Stories, checking, revising, recording them on video, and preparing to distribute them on DVDs.  Thirty-two stories in Kenyan Sign Language will be dedicated January 16-17, 2010.

Each translation represents the cooperative efforts of DOOR International, Wycliffe Bible Translators International, SIL International, Wycliffe Associates, The Seed Company, Bible Translation and Literacy and each Deaf community.

Learn more about Bible translation with the Deaf in Africa.

Sign language is not universal–there are more than 100 sign languages in the world. More sign languages are still being discovered and documented. Each sign language has its own unique vocabulary and grammar. They are not related to the spoken languages of an area.

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I visited Silent Friends Chapel in Dallas on Sunday. It is a congregation of the Deaf and their families. The service was all in sign, but there was an English interpreter for those who are hearing and don’t understand American Sign Language, like me.

The Deaf have unique languages and cultures. I learned about Deaf culture and sign language in November of 2000 when I spent a week with a Deaf community in Mexico City. What did I learn? Sign language is not universal–there are more than 100 known sign languages in the world. More sign languages are still being discovered and documented. Each has its own unique vocabulary and grammar. A sign language is not necessarily related to the spoken language of an area. For example, American Sign Language and British Sign Language are not mutually intelligible or related even though English is spoken in both the USA and the UK, and neither BSL or ASL is a related language of English.

The friend that brought me to Silent Friends is preparing with her husband to work with DOOR International. DOOR is working in partnership with Wycliffe to translate portions of the Bible for Deaf communities that desire it. Learn more.

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