Consultant checking of the Gospel of Mark

Our friend Ross Webb came out to do our last check on the Gospel of Mark.  He knows Bislama, the common trade language throughout Vanuatu, which a lot of our people know, so he was able to communicate in that language.

One of my tasks in the Bible translation work is to work with my language helper, Alice, to take what has been translated into Rral and write what it is saying into Bislama.  This is a good check for Houghton and I to see what the Rral is saying and make sure it is communicating clearly.  Outside consultants who come, like Ross, also use the back-translation to prepare comprehension questions and meaning checks.  Ross asked questions of the participants.  They then discussed in language what the passage was saying and let him know in Bislama whether it was clear or unclear and said what it was communicating.  Ross did a Bible translation in the 90s in Papua New Guinea so he is familiar with the process and knows the areas where his language group struggled to communicate clear meanings.  He has also worked in Vanuatu for 15 years so knows common misunderstandings and cultural issues here.

Each day of checking was held in different villages with people who were not involved in the translation of Mark, so it was also good PR for us to get people hearing God's Word in their language and talking about the translation.

The other benefit of having people not involved in the original translation is that they have no investment in how the translation was done, so rather than taking for granted that it communicates clearly, they can share if something is wrong or sounds funny and are not offended at any changes made.

We are thankful for the full week Ross spent digging into Mark with us and for all the local people who showed up to help in this last check.  Now just for those last spelling, punctuation, formatting, and other fixes before we get it published (adding illustrations and headings, adding footnotes and a glossary, etc).

Thanks for praying for us as we continue to work to get God's Word in the hands of the people of North Ambrym!