Locked up information

Nataly Kelly, the leader of Translators Without Borders, say’s that for many people around the world, “the information that they need is locked up in languages they don’t even speak”. Translators Without Borders is a translation agency. They translate all kinds of things – books, health information, and so on. They started out translating between European languages where they hired translators or took them under contract.

When they expanded into Africa, they discovered that few African languages have trained translators. There was no one to hire or take under contract. This is not just a problem for the translation agency. It means that the life-critical information is not available: how to protect against AIDS, malaria, cholera, how to treat diarrhea-induced dehydration in children (a leading cause of death in children under five). The information is there, but it is locked up in languages the people don’t speak. She says:

Ironically, the people who need that information the most – information about health, science, technology and so on – have zero access to it because of the language barrier… So the richer countries have an abundance of linguists while three billion people are starved for translators in their languages. This is a serious handicap

Failed translation of “sugar free”

If Nataly has a client who wants a pamphlet on heart-heathly diets translated from English to German, she can readily find an experienced and qualified translator. But finding a translator to translate a pamphlet on how to avoid Ebola into the Kpelle language of Liberia (where the an Ebola outbreak took place not long ago) can be a challenge. You will find people who speak both English and Kpelle, and who are willing to translate to earn a little money although they’ve never translated before, but finding one who will do an accurate and clear translation is another matter.

Sometimes people wonder why translating the Bible into a new language takes as long as it does. One of the reasons is that you have to train the translators. A professional translator will spend several years studying their craft, so the training is not something that can be done in a week or two. For the translations where we have been involved training good translators includes carefully choosing the translators, giving them a first course of minimal training (usually about 2 weeks), then having a translation expert closely follow and critique their translation so that they are learn on the job, and then setting up a system where their translations are reviewed by members of the language community. This results in such clear translation that people are often surprised. I have often heard them exclaim that the translation is “so clear”, or “sweet”, etc.

Small selection of booklets produced by Ghanaian translators

Once they have been trained, the translators can translate anything – the Bible, health pamphlets, agricultural information, even the Universal Declaration of Human Rights . And they do, unlocking life-critical information for their peoples.

Information neglect

Programs to Translate the Bible generate information about those programs. One of the aha moments in my missionary career came when I thought about where that information goes and where it doesn’t and why.

When a missionary goes to a place to translate the Bible into a language, the missionary produces information about their work and life. This can be in the form of personal letters, prayer letters, and presentations given to churches, church groups, missions conferences, etc. The primary purposes are:

• To raise funds to support the missionary and his/her work.

• To generate prayer for the missionary and the people they are serving.
• To recruit others to serve in Bible translation.

The information is intended for people and churches in the place the missionary came from. Very little, if any, of the communication is distributed in the language community where the missionary works, or to Christians or churches in the country where the missionary is works.

Today, most Bible translation programs are conducted without a missionary. Instead, nationals do the translation but often with funding coming from churches and Christians in another country. These translation programs also produce information. Reports photographs and prayer requests are sent to those providing the funding. Here’s an example. As with missionary translations very little, if any, of the information is distributed to churches or Christians in the area or at the national level, even where discretion is not needed. So people in the country can feel that they don’t know anything about the program being carried out in their midst. This means that churches and Christians are not mobilized to support the translation program through prayer, giving or serving. It might also mean that when the translation is printed fewer people read or use it.

This was the situation when I first came to Ghana in 2011. But the new director had a vision for mobilizing churches and christians in Ghana in support of Bible translation. Dayle and I played a supporting role in that vision. Today, most denominations in Ghana are well aware of translation efforts and many give significant gifts out of their annual budget for translation. Out of the effort to make Ghanaians fully aware of translation came a group of Christian business men who now support translation. Also, now GILLBT (the Ghanaian organisation I work with) has Ghanaian staff who make sure that information about translation is made known in Ghana. So we only get involved in that occasionally.

God acts through information. So spreading information about Christian ministry is cooperating with God. Neglecting to spread it where it needs to go would then be…

Information

When Dayle and I were in Côte d’Ivoire, we were part of a small team of Africans and Westerners running translations in almost 30 different languages. We realized that we needed to make some changes in the translation projects. After deciding what changes we would try to make, we also decided how we would let everyone know about them including all the national translators – we would call a meeting. For scheduling reasons, the meeting could not be held right away. We scheduled it for 2 1/2 months in the future. Before that meeting could take place, some of the Ivorian translators were at the translation center for training. They worked in five of the thirty or so languages.

A workshop where translators from five languages perfected their translation of the book of Romans.

Some of the Westerners in the small management team came to me during that event and suggested that I tell the national translators who were gathered about the changes. My experience with Westerners is that if there is information, we want to know it as soon as possible. We don’t like to be kept in the dark. They assumed, naturally, that the gathered national translators would want to know soon as well. But none of the Africans in the management team came to me with that suggestion. They thought that the gathered translators should wait to get the information at the same time as the other translators – at the meeting planned to let everyone know.

Working in cross-cultural teams is an interesting challenge. The Westerners want information given out as quickly as it is known. They feel left out if they learn that they did not get information well after it was known. But for the Ivoirians, information is power. If some get it and some don’t, those who get it have an advantage. So they prefer that everyone concerned get the information at the same time, even if that means some who could have had it earlier have to wait.

For Westerners, being treated fairly means getting relevant information quickly. For Ivoirians, being treated fairly means getting information at the same time as others. There’s only one way to make everyone happy – someone is going to have to change their expectations to match those of their colleagues. Since were in Côte d’Ivoire, it seemed most logical and fair that we foreigners be the ones to adapt.