Watch this video to get a glimpse of two people groups from the African island nation of Madagascar – the Sakalava and the Antakarana. Scripture translation is just beginning in Sakalava.
Learn more about how you can pray for the Sakalava and the Antakarana peoples.
My last day in Nairobi I spent some time with Africa Inland Missions On Field Media (OFM) team. They were doing dress rehearsals before their first day of filming a new movie called The Distant Boat. This movie will feature a fictional story about a young Kenyan who God leads into cross-cultural missions work. The primary aim of the movie is to encourage people in the church in Africa towards greater involvement in cross-cultural missions.
About a year ago when I was in Nairobi I shared an idea to members of Wycliffe’s Africa area team for a movie to be made to encourage more people in Africa to become more involved in missions. Just after those meetings were done, I met up with Ted (from OFM) and his wife for lunch. He wanted to talk to me about a new project that OFM was looking into – a movie about African involvement in missions. I was amazed at God’s timing! We arranged for the Wycliffe Global Alliance to make a contribution to the production.
I’m excited to see the end product when it is completed. I hope it will become one of many pieces of media that will show the important role that Africans have and can have in global missions work.
The film is still in need of more funding. Click here if you’d like to contribute.
When you think about Africa, you might not think about entertaining television advertisements. There are some good ones.
These are a few that I enjoy. Have a look!
What are some of your favorite commercials?
God can be honored through the arts of our cultures. One place that is evident is in our music. I was really touched when I heard this woman share a Christian song that she had written in a traditional Japanese music style.
In many countries ethnomusicologists, sometimes called arts consultants, work with communities to analyze and develop their local arts. Christian workers may come alongside the Church and help them to adapt local arts for Christian worship. Local arts used in worship help communities to worship God in ways that don’t feel foreign.
Learn more about ethnoarts.
We’re attending a meeting this evening to get to know some of the people who are involved in beginning a Bible translation for Hong Kong Sign Language. As I’ve mentioned in other posts, there are many different sign languages around the world. It is currently estimated that there may be 400 or more sign languages around the world. Sign languages are distinct from the spoken languages in an area with their own grammar and vocabulary.
The relationship between sign languages is also not necessary connected to the relationship between spoken languages. For example, while hearing people in Hong Kong, China and Taiwan speak Chinese languages, Hong Kong Sign Language is related to a couple of the Sign Languages used in China, but it is distinct from Taiwanese Sign Langauge which is related to Japanese Sign Language.
The photo above shows how to sign the Lord’s Prayer in Hong Kong Sign Language. The Pastor of the Hong Kong Deaf People Christian Church created it to help his congregation learn the Lord’s Prayer. Because sign languages are not universal, each sign language has it’s own way of signing this prayer and articulating the content of the Bible.
The group, tonight, was discussing how to sign key terms.
They were viewing short video clips showing someone signing different key terms, and then everyone was discussing them. In my video (above) you may hear a couple of people speaking Cantonese. It is not the Deaf who are speaking, but the two hearing people who work among Deaf in Hong Kong who were participating in the meetings.
For some concepts they were also discussing if new signs needed to be created and taught or if current signs could adequately translate the meanings of biblical terms.
One term under discussion was emmanuel — God with us. Two options for signs (see above) were discussed at length. The one on the right some felt looked more like God was sitting among us because having your pinky finger out indicates sitting. Whereas the sign on the left, with your fingers clenched together, others felt more adequately translated to the concept of God with us in Hong Kong Sign Language.
This project is just beginning, so it will be interesting to see how it develops in the next few years. From what I saw it looks like this Bible translation will be done on video as many other sign language translation have been done. They are receiving assistance from ViBi, an organization which is involved in Bible translation in Japan. I’ll be visiting them when I leave Hong Kong.
Discussion about key terms is a process that takes place throughout every Bible translation whether for a spoken or signed language. The discussion usually begins before any translation has taken place and continues throughout the translation process. After a translation is complete sometimes new key terms are discovered or the language changes so that new key terms are needed that more fully capture the meaning of biblical concepts. At this point a revision is needed.
Finding adequate ways to articulate biblical concepts is something even Jesus does in the New Testament when describing the Shema to two teachers of the law - look here to read about Bible translation in the Bible.
