Posted in Bible Translation FAQ

FAQ: How do you translate unknown concepts?

People ask us all the time how we translate a word/idea in the Bible that is not present in the Kwakum language. For example, the word “grace” is an enormous key biblical idea yet we do not have a word for “grace” (or even “gift”) in Kwakum. What then do we do? Before answering that question, there are a few underlying translation principles that you need to understand: You cannot translate what you do not understand. It is very tempting for our Kwakum translators to hear a word in Scripture (like cistern) and rush to provide a Kwakum equivalent. However…

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Posted in Bible Translation Christian Missions FAQ

Why Are We Staying?

I have seen an increase in missionaries coming to the field for a fixed term. That is to say, they come to the field with a particular term length in mind. Some will come for two, four, five, or ten years. Then, they return to their home country. From my experience, this seems to be the norm now. And when we talk to Americans, they usually ask us how long we are planning on staying. I will respond with, “our plan is to die in Cameroon (hopefully later rather than sooner).” Since this is a less common reply, I thought…

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Posted in Bible Translation Video

[VIDEO] Kwakum Translation: Step 4: Back Translation

This is the last of seven videos that we made describing the Bible translation process. In this video Stacey interviews Jean Pierre, who is our back translator. He takes our Kwakum translation and translates it back into French so that our consultants can interact with it and ask questions and make recommendations. Here are all of the videos: Kwakum Translation: Step 1: Exegesis Kwakum Translation: Step 2a: Drafting Kwakum Translation: Step 2b: Drafting Kwakum Translation: Step 3a: Testing Kwakum Translation: Step 3b: Testing Kwakum Translation: Step 3c: Testing

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Posted in Bible Translation Prayer

Pray with our Translation Team (Tue, Feb 2, 2021)

As we start this new year, we want to start it with a very visible demonstration of our dependence on the Lord. Therefore, our translation team will be taking the day of Tuesday, February 2nd to pray for the Lord to bless our work in translation in 2021. We are looking for about 12 people who will VIDEO CALL with our team and pray over team of translators. If you are interested, please signup using the link below (if you would rather not put your info on the spreadsheet simply write ‘TAKEN’ on the time slot and email dave.hare@worldteam.org). SIGN…

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Posted in Bible Translation Video

[VIDEO] Kwakum Translation: Step 3c: Testing

Stacey presents the final video on testing here. She discusses how we go out into the villages and test our translations to make sure that they are understood.

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Posted in Bible Translation Video

[VIDEO] Kwakum Translation 3b: Testing

This is the fifth video in our series on the process of Bible translation. In this video Stacey talks with Raphaël, Albert, and Jules who are 3 of the members of our testing team. In this video they discuss some of the tests they perform in making sure that our translation is faithful, clear, and understandable.

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Posted in Bible Translation God’s Work in Cameroon Video

[VIDEO] Kwakum Translation 3a: Testing

So far, we have described the first two steps of Bible translation in three videos: Exegesis, Drafting A, and Drafting B. This video is the first of several in which Stacey describes the third step: Testing. This video features Mama Brigitte, one of the eight Kwakum translators on our team.

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Posted in Africa Bible Translation Christian Missions Oral Bible Storying Video

[VIDEO] Kwakum Translation: Step 2b: Drafting

In this video Patrice (one of our translators) describes more about the Drafting step of the process.

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Posted in Bible Translation Christian Missions Oral Bible Storying Video

[VIDEO] Kwakum Bible Translation: Step 2a: Drafting

The first step in Bible translation is Exegesis, which leads to a front translation. The second step is called Drafting. In this stage we work to understand the text as a group, then develop the first draft of the text in Kwakum. Over the next four videos we will be describing the process of drafting. In this video, I talk to Koo (one of our translators) about the first part of the process of drafting: understanding the text. The most important concept here is: “You cannot translate a text that you do not understand.”

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Posted in Bible Translation Christian Missions God’s Work in Cameroon Newsletter

[NEWSLETTER] Progress!

This has been a crazy year, and it has been a while since we updated you. I am glad to let you know that we have seen some great progress!  In the area of Bible translation, you probably know that we have decided to work on Old Testament Bible Storying. We started working on some stories at the end of last year. Then, we went through the process of translator selection, choosing seven men and one woman to work on the project. We had a training time, working through topics such as: basic translation principles, how to deal with unknown…

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