Some more...

Maaan there're so many blogs out there! I thought I'd have some trouble finding blogs related to this area, but umm... I guess not. It's actually kind of late as I type this. My eyelids are getting all droopy. Anyway, look:

lingamish.com: that translator that blogs about the progress of the Nyungwe Bible--David Ker--he blogs about a ton of things...things he finds interesting. Get this:

I never blog about cats.

And this one's funny. Actually, he just is funny. He's got a great blogging voice. But there's just a lot of stuff there. It'll take a while for me to get through it all.

The Arthurs' blog is cool cuz in its "tags" section, "BIBLE TRANSLATION" shows up as the BIGGEST.

The Talking Bible reminds us about the cultures out there, that are oral and not script based cultures. Audio Bibles will probably be the most meaningful to them, huh.

The "Translation Issues" category in the Northwest Baptist Seminary archives talk more about translation itself, regardless of resultant language.

Ok, going to bed. It feels so late. How will I ever have the time to revisit these blogs and pour through them? On a side note, my roommate will now have trouble making sure I'm actually doing homework when from now she'll see me on the computer a lot. :)

--kowai-kawaii

Check this out!

Go check out "Nyungwe Bible Translation"! As you can guess...it's a blog completely devoted to the translation of the Bible into the Nyungwe language in Tete, Mozambique. Nyungwe is

a language spoken by more than 250,000 people living in the region of the Zambezi River.

It's a concise little blog that shows anybody who's interested, from financial and/or prayer supporters to any old person like me who has an interest in the subject, a little bit about what goes on in the world of translation. It's not necessarily all that academic, because it's not here to instruct us about how to translate or anything, but it is very professionally written. I believe an American missionary working on the project writes this blog. Based on his post in the May of 2008, linking us to his other blogs, he is David Ker,

a media access specialist and member of Wycliffe Bible Translators based in Mozambique, Africa.

Wycliffe Bible Translators, by the way, is probably the biggest organization out there devoted to translating the Bible into all the languages spoken by all the people on Earth. (But more info on them later!)

One post I like is one from April 2006, where more light is shed into the process of Bible translation. In my mind when I was younger, I imagined Bible translation to be a dangerous, adventurous journey where a family would go alone into an unknown area and live with the "natives", as the natives do, slowly learning their language and developing a script for it. But now that areas of the world are more developed, I suppose it's more common for things to be done more efficiently as a group effort. With training, nationals are actually doing more of the actual translating now, not foreign missionaries. Computers are available, too.

This post in November 2007 reveals to you the dedication these people have for translation. It's boiling hot in Mozambique, even in November, so the most comfortable place to work is in the shade outdoors!--on little wooden chairs? With our worldviews and living standards, I'm sure I'd be thinking about how my butt's so sore and my feet are all dusty, but really--this is home for others! And reading the previous post, this Pastor Semo (the joyful, smiling man in the picture, I presume)--his wife had passed away about two months prior. That he still has this passion, drive, and joy is completely inspirational to me; it really is a testament to how God heals.

This blog averages about 4 posts a year: this is probably due to busy schedules and perhaps limited internet access. Posts are kept short, probably due once more to limited internet access. As for popularity, I suppose it is not that popular--the post with the highest number of comments contain 2 comments. Most posts are commentless and a technorati search yields no results.

Besides all that technical stuff, I'll be coming back to this site as a reference about ways in which Bible translation occurs. There's not a whole lot, but it's just so cool to be reading about something that's happening right now. In real time. Otherwise, the only contact I'll have with a particular translation process is probably just the finished product. w00t!

--kowai-kawaii

Hello!

Hi everyone!

Originally I had thought about blogging about linguistics: how our words themselves or even just the way they are used and pronounced affect how people see us—whether there is any discrimination or judgment. Sociolinguistics, I guess. I had wanted to dispel misconceptions of what made a language a language or a dialect, what made something “correct” about a language, if indeed there is any “correctness” involved. That kind of stuff. But I thought about it for a while. Could I really write about that for an entire semester? I didn't really have anything to say about this stuff except for what you could easily learn in a class that you can actually take here at this university (a class that I had taken, of course...) I didn't really have anything new to add to this discussion—I just agreed with people and wanted others to know about it all. So I was thinking, along with my roommate, what else did I care about that could be academically related to linguistics?

But first!—here's something you should know about me: I'm spiritual—my spirituality is Jesus Christ. I know, I know—doesn't it just sound like I might as well say, “Hi everyone, I'm a Christian - Protestant! What's your religion according to Facebook?” But really, what I believe—it's not a set of rules that you just follow blindly, nor is it just a tradition or a label. I'm not gonna just go with the flow, be like the others—no rock and roll music, must be home-schooled and vote Republican because it's what God wants you to do. No way. All that I want is to follow Jesus's example. I mean, with all my ability (and then some!) I want to listen to others' differing beliefs in order to respect and love them. But what I hope is to share with you something I find interesting, in more ways than just spiritual—something that also says a lot about people, cultures, and languages.

If you can't tell already by the title of this blog, I'll be writing about Bible translation around the world. And as most people know, Christians—whether the religious, traditional kind or the kind that really wants to make a difference in the world—read the Bible. (Whether they really do what it says is another matter...) What's the point of translating it? Well, to do as the book itself says, those who choose the spirituality of following God's way are supposed to take this book and its message to “every nation, tribe, language and people” so that “every nation, tribe, language and people” can hopefully decide for itself whether or not it wants to choose this way as well. For those who do not have this book in their own language, how are they supposed to read and truly understand it unless it is translated into their heart language?

For that matter, what does translation mean? It might mean finding out what exactly what languages are out there: how many are there? Do they already have a writing system? What languages is it related to? It will definitely mean understanding a new culture and people group. It will mean difficulties and struggles of those going out there to do this work, and it will also mean difficulties and struggles in the work itself. Hopefully I'll get to know more and we can look into the linguistics and cultural differences involved in all this together!

As with any intellectual exchange, feel free to disagree with me because I'll be happy to reply! This is what a blog is for—it's a dialogue between writer and reader, reader to reader, hopefully to further understanding between different peoples—whether of the same or different nation, tribe, or language.

And so... peace in the Middle East, as my currently sleeping, IR roommate would say...

--kowai-kawaii