Archive for the ‘Languages’ Category

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Survival of the weakest

Tuesday, May 15th, 2012

A recent BBC article reported on a study linking biodiversity and the diversity of languages. It also pointed out that for both languages and species, the risk of extinction is increasing. It got Mark (in Tanzania working with Wycliffe) thinking…

One response is say that languages, and to a lesser extent plants and animals, only have value in the degree to which they are useful to us, and so there is little reason to mourn their loss. In fact, in the case of languages, the reduction in diversity can actually make the task of communication easier, so the loss of languages may even be welcomed.

But I would suggest that a pragmatic view that only sees species and languages as having value based on their usefulness to us doesn’t do justice to God’s creativity and his instruction to humanity to be good stewards of his creation. Plants and animals are valuable simply because God created them, and because he said they were good. Similarly, languages are valuable because they are also part of God’s diverse creation, and are spoken by people who are of great worth.

In God’s kingdom every person has value and is to be treated with love and respect. Whereas it can be tempting for us to measure the value of something based merely on what it can do or produce, or its financial worth, the way of Jesus is to leave everything in order to search for the the lost son, the lost sheep and the lost coin. In a world that preaches survival of the fittest, the life and death of Jesus shows a different way, where everything is given up in order to enable the thriving of the weakest.

In this light I believe a Christian response is to come alongside communities whose languages are threatened by extinction and offer our help in preserving and developing these languages, thereby allowing often struggling communities to thrive, affirming their identity, self-worth and their place in God’s world…

 

On a recent trip to the Pimbwe language area (photos) we were reminded of God’s creativity expressed both biologically and linguistically. Our prayer is that just as the national park we drove through on the way causes us to rejoice in God’s creation by preserving and celebrating some of these incredible animals, so our work alongside communities like the Pimbwe may allow them and others to praise God in and through their unique languages.

You can read more from Mark on his blog.

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The a-b-cs of voting

Monday, May 14th, 2012

In the fifties, Betty and Wayne arrived in Peru, to work among the Matsigenka people. Before there could be any thought of translating the Bible, beginning literacy classes, or encouraging the use of mother-tongue Scriptures, they needed an alphabet to use.

At a gathering more than 50 years later, the people voted on the 22-letter system they developed:

‘One by one, the twenty-two letters of the Matsigenka alphabet were projected on the wall for all to see. Pausing at each letter, a representative from the Ministry of Education asked participants: “Should this letter be included in the Matsigenka alphabet? Raise your hand if you are in favor of this letter being included in the Matsigenka alphabet.”

‘Twenty-two times, a crowded room full of Matsigenka speakers shouted, “Yes!” with their hands stretched high into the air. Some couldn’t resist raising both hands. And each time, the representative added one more letter to a growing list.

‘For the past fifty years, those twenty-two letters have been used to create readers, math books, health and hygiene materials, Scriptures, and dictionaries in Matsigenka. Finally, at this historic and emotional event, they would be officially recognised as the standard for writing the Matsigenka language.’

Visit the Wycliffe USA blog for more about the vote and Betty’s reaction.

The foundation built by Wycliffe workers enables mot only Bible translation, but also alphabet development, literacy, dictionary development, the production of health materials and Scripture use. Get involved.

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God speaks Bamunka!

Tuesday, May 8th, 2012

On Sunday 4th March, the Bamunka people celebrated the first Scripture in their language: Luke’s Gospel had been translated, checked and printed, and was ready to go out into the hands and hearts of the Bamunka.

Jon Blackwell, who has been working with the team as the literacy coordinator, was anxious about what kind of celebration they could expect. He anticipated just a handful of people showing up. But he recently sent this very positive celebration account to John Hamilton:

“We thank God for  a wonderful dedication day for Luke’s Gospel in Bamunka. Thank you for your prayer! The day was well organised by the inter-church Committee and went smoothly, without any hitches; there was great rejoicing at the arrival of the word. Some five hundred people gathered in a local school field and heard choirs from Baptist, Presbyterian, Apostolic and Catholic churches as well as speeches from the translation team, SIL, local clergy and a representative of the Bamunka Fon [traditional leader of the people group].

Children recite the Lord's Prayer in the Bamunka language

“There was some drama and memory recitations from the Gospel in the Bamunka language. At the end came the entry and presentation of the Gospel to the Fon in a traditional Bamunka way. His representative received the gift and spoke warmly of the work and the challenges ahead. This was followed by feasting.

“The day was notable not only for the arrival of the word but also for the fact that the event was genuinely inter-denominational – ranging right across the church spectrum – in a context where the translation effort has been primarily from one denomination. We pray that many churches will now take firmer ownership of the project, even though in most cases the clergy and the majority of their congregations are not Bamunka.”

People queue to buy a copy of Luke's Gospel

The Bamunka have seen and tasted what it’s like to have God speak their language. Many millions more don’t have the chance, as translation work is yet to begin in their languages. You can help.

John Hamilton is the coordinator of Wycliffe Bible Translators in Northern Ireland. Read more about the Bamunka celebrations on his blog.

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Mother-tongue teaching

Sunday, May 6th, 2012

Have you ever considered how difficult life is for those who don’t speak the language that is used in school? We see it in the UK, where immigrant communities use one language at home and another in the classroom. This can often lead to a child underperforming rather than achieving all that they can.

Fortunately, in the UK, these instances are still relatively isolated. However, in some countries, being taught in another language to the one you speak at home can be the norm.

Children in Thailand learn to read. Photo from LEAD Asia (leadimpact.org).

Take Nigeria for example. There the national language of education is English. So in the classroom everything you are taught will be in English. Every exam you sit will be in English. Every book you read will be in English. And yet, when you are outside of the classroom, in the playground, at home with your family, all your communication will be in the local language. When will you practice your English? In a system like this it is really unlikely that you will perform to the best of your academic ability. You’ll only ever perform to the best of your English language ability.

Fortunately, in Nigeria, in some of the communities where Bible translation has been happening, the government is allowing schools to teach primary students in the local language. Imagine what a difference it makes to the student when you can go to class and understand everything that’s being taught.

Research has shown that primary school children, educated in their mother tongue, have a better chance of learning a second language at a later date.

See how you could help more children read fluently, though supporting Bible translation.

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A key to the Scriptures? Part 2

Saturday, April 21st, 2012

In yesterday’s post from Geoffrey Hunt, he and Rosemary worked with the Hanga people of northern Ghana, to translate the New Testament and support literacy in Hanga. When the New Testament was completed, there were just a few Hanga Christians, and only 500 New Testaments were published. Years later, Geoffrey returned to Ghana to help work start on the Old Testament. With colleagues, they produces Key Scripture booklets in Hanga. What follows is Geoffrey’s account of the impact of the booklets:

The translation team prepared a leaflet of Key Scriptures, mainly from the Hanga New Testament. The leaflet was divided into four sections: the beginning (some verses from Genesis), sin and salvation, discipleship and people who refuse. It was photocopied for distribution.

The next Sunday the translation team travelled along the western side of the Hanga territory and sold packs of 20 leaflets to leaders of four separate Hanga churches. In the most distant village a woman begged for a Hanga New Testament, but only a few were available for the whole Hanga area. However, her church leader said that she could have the one available for his church. The leader of another Hanga church asked for 10 New Testaments, but there was only one to give him. A few days later, a man came from that distant village and said that the village needed more copies of the Key Scriptures’ leaflet. Obviously Hanga literacy is still flourishing among some of the Hanga people and just needs encouragement, but the young people need to learn.

The following Sunday the team visited the eastern side of the Hanga territory, including the village where the Hunt family had lived. There is no church in that village, but they are keen that their children learn to read and write Hanga. They were also happy to buy a 20-pack of the Key Scriptures leaflets. That night, after their visitors had left, the villagers gathered together to read the leaflets and, the next night, one of them phoned to ask, “Are all these passages from the book that Mr. Hunt translated?” When he was assured that they were, he asked, “Why didn’t you give this to us before?”

Well, of course, they had the New Testament but, as new literates, they had not been able to find what they wanted from a book of five hundred pages. But presented as a leaflet of key Scriptures, it opened their minds to what it was all about. There was one verse (‘There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus’ 1Tim 2:5) that a severely alcoholic Hanga man read and came to know Christ. Another verse (‘Anybody will not be able to reach my father God’s place unless I have him go’ Jn 14:6b lit.) was one that had led a Muslim to keep searching, because Muhammad never made such a claim.

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A key to the Scriptures? Part 1

Friday, April 20th, 2012

In 1971 Geoffrey and Rosemary Hunt went to live among the Hanga people of northern Ghana. The Hanga people were a small group of just a few thousand people and their language had never been written. Geoffrey and Rosemary learnt the language and produced a writing system that was easy to learn. They also translated the New Testament and provided other books.

They started teaching people how to read their own language, with some surprising results. One unschooled man of about 17 learnt to read and write Hanga in two weeks. Another unschooled boy of perhaps 12 learnt to read and write Hanga in four weeks and shortly afterwards wrote a letter to Geoffrey. Another man, though, took two years to learn, but he eventually became a church leader.

Geoffrey testing literacy materials with a Hanga boy

When Geoffrey and Rosemary left in early 1982, they only knew of two Hanga Christians. They had not preached to the people, just lived among them and served them. But what happened next was what God did: an indigenous church sprang up through the literacy and the Hanga Scriptures, aided by a few people that God sent. Through various ups and downs the church grew stronger and now there are hundreds of Christians, and many are very ready to say that it was only because of the literacy and the Hanga Scriptures that they became Christians.

In autumn 2009 the Hanga church asked Geoffrey and Rosemary about translating the Old Testament and, early in 2011, Geoffrey found himself back in Hanga land training three Hanga people to translate. Except for email, none of the translators knew how use a computer, so they had to start with the basics. The idea was to translate selections from the Old Testament, starting with Genesis, and make each group of selections available to the Hanga people as soon as they had been thoroughly checked, printing them as a leaflet made from a folded sheet of paper. But the four week visit was too short to make much happen.

Early in 2012, on Geoffrey’s next visit, the need to revive literacy in the Hanga language was in focus. And the need for fresh reading materials was obvious. The translation team decided to start by reviving literacy among the churches, so they prepared a leaflet of Key Scriptures, mainly from the Hanga New Testament. The leaflet was divided into four sections: the beginning (some verses from Genesis), sin and salvation, discipleship and people who refuse. It was photocopied for distribution.

This account comes straight from Geoffrey Hunt. What impact do you think ‘key Scripture booklets’ would have for a community which already had the New Testament? Find out tomorrow!

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Feeling spiritually peckish?

Monday, April 16th, 2012

Among the 50,000 Dirasha people of a remote region of Ethiopia, a Dirasha team is working towards translating the Bible into their language, Dirayta, and starting literacy programmes among the community. They wanted to demonstrate to other Dirasha people the importance of getting a good spiritual meal:

‘At a recent workshop, with more than 120 Dirayta speakers in attendance, a drama drove home the theme of the value of hearing the Gospel in their own language:

‘A hostess invited four guests for dinner. Two of the guests were served a large meal and some Pepsi®. They went away feeling satisfied. The other two were served only a few grains of kolo (a grain snack) and a glass of water. They went away hungry.

‘Those in attendance thought the drama was hilarious, especially when the hungry guests complained loudly as they stormed off the stage. But the “aha” moment came as they thought about the large number of Dirasha people attending churches that preach in the national language of Amharic. The Dirasha people do not understand Amharic, and therefore go away spiritually hungry every Sunday.’

Work on the Dirayta Bible is ongoing: so far, only Mark, Luke, Ruth and Jonah have been translated, but within a few years, they hope to complete the New Testament. Find out more over at the Wycliffe USA website.

With help, prayer and financial support from people around the world, the Dirasha people are starting to taste God’s word. Your involvement with the work of Bible translation can support them and many more, so that snacking on the Bible can become more like feasting. Have a look at this short video on our website about why the spiritual meals of others should matter to us.

 

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Language influences

Saturday, April 14th, 2012

A Guardian article this week explored some interesting changes in the way English is spoken in Ghana. Ghana, or Gold Coast as it used to be called, was a British Colony and English was introduced as the national language during the colonial era.

English became very important in all areas of Ghanaian life, including the church. Many Ghanaians learned to speak in the style and language of those in the ‘corridors of power’, adopting ‘Queen’s English’ over their mother tongue. However, this is all changing.  Today, the Ghanaian identity is expressed in diverse languages and accents, and the English language is being given a modern Ghanaian makeover.

The Guardian article states:

‘There has been a significant change now, away from those who think sounding English is prestigious, towards those who value being multilingual, who would never neglect our mother tongues, and who are happy to sound Ghanaian when we speak English.

‘Ghana has nine indigenous languages that are officially sponsored by the government, including Akan languages spoken widely in the south. A further 26 languages are officially recognised and at least double that number are also spoken. Unlike its francophone neighbours, which were forced under colonialism to teach only in French, Ghana has always maintained the use of African languages in its primary school education.’ (full article here)

The great thing about the Christian message is that it can be expressed in the language of people’s hearts and doesn’t rely on international languages like English. Across Ghana, the Ghana Institute of Linguistics, Literacy and Bible Translation (the Ghanaian Wycliffe Organisation) is making God’s word accessible to Ghanaians so that they can become authentic Ghanaian disciples of Jesus Christ.

As Wycliffe Bible Translators put minority languages into the written form, they also enable much work in multilingual mother tongue education and literacy programmes. Find out more.

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God comes to me

Friday, March 30th, 2012

When a new New Testament arrives at a people group who have never heard it in their own language before, it has far more impact than just making reading a bit easier. The way people talk to God and the way they do church can change dramatically.

Take this example from Indonesia. The arrival of the New Testament including sharing songs in the mother tongue and powerful impact on the heart:

Recently a shipment of 1,300 Helong New Testaments plus Genesis arrived in the village of Kupang in Timor, Indonesia. Among other resources in the volume, 63 Helong hymns are printed in the back. Word of the arrival spread quickly, and people came from all over Kupang to see the New Testament for themselves.

Reading about when Jesus met the Samaritan woman in John 4, the brother of the primary mother-tongue translator said, ‘When I read this story in Helong, it felt like I was standing there and looking at them. It’s true that there is power in the word of God. I was so blessed to feel God’s presence, and I was overwhelmed because God is willing to come to a sinner like me.’

This account comes from Wycliffe USA’s prayer blog, which you can view here.

If you would like to regularly pray for the impact of the translation of God’s word, you can pray with us through our bimonthly prayer diary, Call to Prayer. Receive it in the post, by email or by rss feed.

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Boundary-less

Tuesday, March 27th, 2012

Tefera is currently at the Wycliffe Centre in the UK studying literacy. With Wycliffe Africa, he works in literacy programmes in Ethiopia, which is home to more than 60 languages. He has seen firsthand the impact of teaching in the mother tongue.

‘When you explain about the impact of learning the mother tongue, oh, they just cry. “So that’s why we feel like stupid people who don’t understand anything – that was where it went wrong,” they say. “It is because we weren’t taught in our mother tongue that we are not able to pass from grade to grade, or be intelligent like other people who are learning in their mother tongue.”’

Where Tefera grew up, education was in the national language, Amharic, spoken by few locally. The first grade alone can take up to five years for some students, if all enthusiasm for learning hasn’t been lost long before then. Very few move on to high school. Many in the community don’t understand the concept of the written script. When they see Amharic written, they despair that they have never had the chance to write their own language, which has been spoken for thousands of years. ‘Why? What’s wrong with our language?’

Tefera has been working with 25 new pilot classes in the area. The students are full of passion, involved and desperate to learn, taught in their own language. Of the six language groups, five now have a written form. Work progresses to analyse and produce a systematic orthography for the sixth, Baale. Without this script, the community suffers, financially, educationally and, without the Bible available to them, spiritually.

Unlike when Tefera was growing up, the government now strongly supports mother-tongue education in the country, but, [...] the task is still enormous: ‘I wish I could be 10 people, you know, just doing all this work. It’s too much – we need prayer, we need help, because the doors are open.’ Nevertheless, they are not discouraged. As Tefera says, ‘We should think boundary-less: there are no boundaries in God’s kingdom.’ Read more about Tefera on wycliffe.net.

Find out more about the impact of literacy work, and how it connects with sharing God’s Story in every language.

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