Featured So You Want to Be a Bible Translator!

I keep thinking this would be a fun topic, so here we go. This will be about how to become a Bible translator, assuming you either want to be one or you would just like to discuss the matter.

First of all, I can't abide wannabes. A wannabe is someone who aspires to a task or profession, but just doesn't have what it takes to make it. Back when I taught Kung Fu in college, two boys came to a class I was teaching, and said they were followers of Bruce Lee and his method, Jeet Kune Do (pr. jeet coon dough). They wanted to spar me and show off their "Jeet Coon Knee Do." They had been training on their own, I suppose with one of Lee's books.

I corrected their pronunciation, and squared off with one of them. At one point I threw a round house kick at his head, stopping before I connected, of course, since this was non-contact sparring. He said, "What was that??!?" Really? Every beginner in my class knew that technique, yet they claimed to be expert in JKD and didn't know it. They were wannabes, not real martial artists.

So, what is the absolute minimum of skill and/or knowledge one needs to be a Bible translator? Anyone?

 

Definitely. So, the absolute minimum is to be fluent in two languages. So one could translate from English to the target language, but one would have to know the target language fluently.

Knowing the Biblical languages as the source language is ideal, but a lot of translation work goes on from English. I understand that a lot of Wycliffe translators work from English, often from the inferior GNB. However, I've known fundamentalist translators who worked from English, also.

 

So a minimum of fluency in two languages. One may or may not be formally educated in them, but educated nevertheless. Bilingual kids like my son can speak two languages as a native speaker.

Absolutely. One not gifted in language would have a real hard time being a translator.

Thick skin, definitely. But probably coffee instead of whiskey.

But you just have to ignore the critics. I've heard:
Why don't you just go soul winning?
There's already a good Bible.
Can't they just learn English?
Etc.

Then you might get schooled by the nationals. Uncle Miya, my co-translator, said to me once, "Himes Sensei (teacher), that's Junior High Japanese."

 

Yes to the two languages, though one can use English (or their native tongue) as the source language. Ideally, the target language should be the translator's native tongue, but occasionally a brilliant translator like William Carey can become fluent enough in the target language to translate.

Humility: definitely. The translator makes mistakes when translating such as leaving out words or phrases (I once left out a whole verse), getting the grammar or semantics wrong, getting the nuance wrong, etc. Being willing to admit error and fix it is vital.

 

So, how would you ensure accuracy if you translated from English? Ordinarily a double translation ends up with poor renderings. You always lose data in a double translation.

 

Speaking of wannabes, I once got a phone call in Hokkaido, where we were based, from a man down in Yokosuka where there is a huge American and Japanese naval base. He ran some service or other for the servicemen.

So anyway, he wanted to join our translation team. I asked if he knew Greek. Nope. Did he know Japanese? Nope. Well, maybe he could contribute financially. Nope, since we were in Japan under a mission board and he didn't believe in them.

So he found a Japanese man to use, and told me he was going to submit a chapter of John for evaluation, so the Japanese man could join our effort. (We had already translated John, though.) I bit, and waited and waited, but nothing ever happened.

So the great thing about Bible translating is if you are a wannabe, it soon becomes evident. When push comes to shove, you can't produce anything!

 

Very interesting. Am I right to assume that a "language identifier" is some kind of test?

Learning a language formally forces you to learn the grammar correctly. There is something called the "-te form" in Japanese. (Some grammarians call it the Japanese participle, but it doesn't function like a participle.) So once I bought a very basic grammar book in Japanese of the language, and it didn't even have this form in it!

On the other hand, a native speaker always knows the symbolic language better: idioms, metaphors, etc. A native speaker is also more likely to know the classical and literary forms of the language, if there is such.

 

Alas....

 

Someone else did. I just sing it--which can be a devastating weapon.

 

A tough language. I had to be in Japanese school for two years, full time--35-40 hours a week.

This points up the fact that the typical translator has taken a whole lot of time and money to become fluent in that second language, unless he or she grew up bilingual. This is just another reason I can't abide the translator wannabe; he or she does not understand nor respect what the translator has done to become a translator.

 

I have great respect for this type of ministry. To start from zero, and produce a written language and then a Bible translation, may be the most difficult Christian ministry on earth.