Featured Training for Translators

I'd like to share on this thread where you can get academic training to be a Bible translator. There are actually very few such places. I'll list them in no particular order.

First of all, the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) is the granddaddy. (You can see their website here: SIL International.) It was founded in 1934 by William Cameron Townsend, who also founded Wycliffe. SIL is mainly concerned with linguistics. I have been told that nowadays they do not do Bible translation, but mainly train linguists and translators, but I can't confirm that.

They also do extensive linguistic surveys around the world. At our institution we are hoping to someday produce a NT in the Beba language of Africa, where we support a church planting movement. I've been there with one of our students, who did preliminary research for our effort. You can check out the SIL Beba survey here: Rapid appraisal sociolinguistic survey of Beba. Just click on the PDF at the bottom of the page.

For training, they support degrees in linguistics at various places. A friend is working on her thesis for an MA in linguistics with SIL at the U. of North Dakota. I'm impressed with the education she is getting and the support she gets from the profs and advisors.

I have just one caveat here. SIL is following in the tradition of Eugene Nida, who made linguistic knowledge very important for translators. Granted, linguistic skill is vital especially for a pioneer work in an unwritten language. But I believe equal time should be given to translation studies, a field which has grown exponentially in the past 30 years. If you'll look at their "Translation Specialist" degree, you'll see no Greek or Hebrew courses, and no theology, but mainly linguistics with one course on "Translation Principles, Theory and Practice."

 

In the fundamentalist world, probably the oldest training institution is Baptist Bible Translators Institute (BBTI), founded in 1973. Here is their website: Home - Baptist Bible Translators Institute

Since it was founded by an actual Bible translator originally trained at SIL (as I recall), who was then followed by another Bible translator (also trained at SIL, I believe), they have a good reputation in my mind. Their textbook by the second director is very practical, and I recommend it: Biblical Bible Translating, by Charles Turner, now in the 3rd ed.

Their course of study leans toward linguistics because of the SIL influence. They also lean towards tribal translating, so someone going to a people group with a written language would not be helped so much. As I understand it (talking to grads), they originally had an M.A. program, but the state of Texas insisted on some things they could not follow in order to offer an M.A., so they just offer a diploma nowadays.

Something anyone interested in going there should know is that that they are strongly TR-Only, I believe you would say. Whether or not that is the reason, or the SIL influence is the reason, they are weak in the original languages, with only one 3 credit class in Greek and nothing in Hebrew. Also, about half of their courses are in missions rather than translation or linguistics--not necessarily a bad idea.

 

This summer once again I'll be heading up our group to go to the WorldView Ministries "Team Meeting" for some specialized Bible translation training (by invitation). Here is their website: Worldview Ministries. I have made some wonderful friends at these meetings, fellow Bible translators and linguists. In particular, I have found Ken Fielder, the head of the ministry, to be a humble and good servant of the Lord, passionate about the need for Bible Translation around the world. Last year I had the privilege of presenting our Japanese "Lifeline New Testament" (ライフライン訳新約聖書).

WorldView is an "out of the box" mission board. They support missionary translators and translation efforts in various countries. In India in particular, they offer an M.A. in Bible translation, and have some awesome projects and future projects going there.

 

Har, har, Rhet, you've got me! Seriously, this is the last week of the grad class I am taking, and then I'll be able to get back to my book. Thanks for the encouragement.

This summer there is going to be a Will Rice family reunion. Will was the father of the three Rice evangelists, John R., Bill, and Joe (who died in the 1950's). I hope to interview my aunts at that time, and possibly get into the BJU Archives (if they'll let me). That will finish off my research, and I plan to finish the book in the summer.

 

Thanks for this post. Wycliffe has a huge presence on the missionary Bible translation scene. Their missionaries have done wonderful work over the years. While I disagree with what I have heard is their policy of simply doing translation work and not church planting, no one can deny the great good for Christ they have done.

I was recently talking with my colleague working on an SIL degree. She shared with me how in Muslim countries, Muslims are approaching Wycliffe/SIL personnel (there is much overlap) asking about Christ, who they may have read about in the translated NT, or even seen in a dream.

 

I disagree with that missiology. Two different knowledgeable sources have told me that there are Wycliffe translated Bibles sitting in warehouses in various places, unused. But this is not a missiology thread per se, so I'll not pursue that line.

Amen to that, certainly.

rd

 

GIAL has an excellent linguistics program. However, note that there are no degrees offered in Bible translation per se. On the other hand, I think it is great that they are partnering with various other institutions in that area.

One in particular I have looked at is the Southwestern BTS program, which cooperates with GIAL. You can get an M.Div. with a concentration in Bible translation, or an M.A. in Applied Linguistics. See the web page here: Master of Divinity in Missions and Bible Translation - The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Both of these programs are heavy in linguistics from GIAL, but also have good Hebrew and Greek content, and also Bible translation specific courses. I'd say that either of these degrees would prepare a Bible translator well.

 

I'm not sure what you mean by my "implied standard." What I have been told is that there are translations sitting in warehouses which have never reached their intended people groups.

One of our pastors here sat on a plane a year or two ago with a man (not with Wycliffe) who said his ministry was to get those translations out of the warehouses and into the hands of their intended people group.

If (I say "if") Wycliffe no longer even distributes their translated Bibles, much less does evangelism, the purpose of the translation is not fulfilled.

Here is a quote from Cameron Townsend himself concerning the Wycliffe policy on evangelism: "We have purposefully restricted ourselves to translating the Bible.... If we pass out tracts, hold meetings, and do other things regular missionaries do, the door could be closed in our faces. I'm all for witnessing in their mother tongue as friend to friend. But let's do it by inviting neighbors into our homes, visiting them, and building friendships." (Uncle Cam, by James and Marti Hefley, pp. 169-170).

I do not know if Wycliffe has a policy prohibiting direct evangelism per se, but this is a telling quote from their founder.

 

I don't want to minimize what Wycliffe has done in the past. Many languages now have at least a portion of the Bible, often the entire NT or Bible because of Wycliffe. This puts us Baptists to shame. Many of the early translations were done by Baptists: Carey, Judson, Nathan Brown in Japan, and others. However, in the past 100 years or so, Baptists have failed in the area of missionary Bible translation (with some notable exceptions). Instead, we fuss and argue about the English, while 1600 languages have not Bible and not even a current effort to translate one.

 

The evangelical missionary force has been declining numerically for years. However, until recently I was able to say that the ind. Baptist movement was the bright spot, not declining in that way. However, we hear from my old mission board that our little college is supplying most of the missionary candidates, and the other main schools have very few missions grads nowadays.

To some degree the candidates in our movement have shifted to small, local church sending agencies. However, over all it is safe to say that the number of missionary candidates is now decreasing among ind. Baptists.

 

I have great respect for the translation consultants of BI, and have met a couple of them. I'll be hearing lectures by another at a translation meeting this summer. As to whether or not their missionary force is growing, I don't know. Since they are in a specialized niche that takes specialized learning (Greek and Hebrew), there are not that many candidates who can do their ministry.

As for a comparison to the Wycliffe translators, I put the BI folk a step above, since they do insist on working from the original languages, while many Wycliffe translations are double translations from an English version.