Checking

In Bible translation there are many levels of checking, as we take seriously that this is God’s word that we’re dealing with. One of the first levels of checking is the advisor check, when as translation advisor to the Kope translation team, I discuss with them their first draft and iron out any possible mistakes that I have spotted.

The first thing we do with checking is read the text aloud. Hearing the text as a whole allows the team to hear if it sounds natural or awkward, and if it flows well. Although we have done this when drafting, the gap between drafting and checking gives people fresh ears to hear things they no longer hear after working on a text all day. At this stage, some corrections are usually made to ensure naturalness.

Next I ask a range of comprehension questions of the text as a whole. This allows me to determine if they’ve understood the big picture or not. Sometimes these questions are specifically aiming at things I think may not be clear. Other times they are just general questions.

Next we go through the text, verse by verse, addressing specific questions thatI have from my time studying the draft and the back translation. These questions might be a reflection of something I know that was tricky in drafting, of something that does not seem to match the original meaning, or of something that may be unclear. We gradually work through these questions, making changes as we go.

At the end, we re-read the text as a whole, to make sure that it still sounds natural even after the changes have been made. Although this might sound like a dry process, it is actually an enjoyable form of Bible study as we read our way through the text and make sure that everyone is understanding the meaning clearly.

 Arrows are part of life, so people know
how important a sharp arrow is. (H.Schulz)

When we were doing advisor checking for the first time last year, a leader from the community joined us who had not been part of the translation process so far, and who did not attend church often. His comments as we worked on the text, reminded me why we do this work;

“I don’t go to church, but this is truth”

“It’s like sharpening an arrow”

I liked his second comment in particular, as it suggested that the draft was already strong and useful, but that we were making it more useful.

“We will need no introduction, no sermon; we will just read the text.”

I also liked the idea that once the Bible was done and we could use it in church, that the meaning would be clear enough that it should need no further explanation.