Translation treasure

By Rachel Morgan, Rangi Project Translation Advisor, Wycliffe Bible Translators Two very rewarding aspects of working on a translation project stand out in my mind. The first is seeing the smiles on people’s faces when they hear God’s Word in their language for the first time. The second is what I call the “light bulb” […]

By Rachel Morgan, Rangi Project Translation Advisor, Wycliffe Bible Translators

Two very rewarding aspects of working on a translation project stand out in my mind. The first is seeing the smiles on people’s faces when they hear God’s Word in their language for the first time. The second is what I call the “light bulb” moments.

These moments occur when a translator is looking at the Bible trying to find an equivalent word for a concept in his language.

This recently happened when we were translating Genesis 13:10. The Swahili word for the Garden of Eden, or Garden of the Lord, is bustani. The Tanzanian translators were used to this word, but it does not conjure up anything particularly beautiful about a garden.

Tom, a Bible translator, was describing how beautiful the Garden of Eden was, with water, animals, trees, flowers, etc. During the discussion, Kijuu and Maingu, the Rangi translators, suddenly ‘saw’ for the first time how beautiful the Garden of Eden was. They then knew that the best Rangi word for a beautiful garden or piece of land is ntindika.

Kijuu described ntindika as a place which, though people need to tend and cultivate it, never fails to produce a great variety of delicious fruit , such as papaya, mangoes or sugar cane.

He said, “You can always find food there.”

It was exciting to see the joy in their faces as they made this discovery. Translating the Word of God into a person’s mother tongue makes it come alive for them.

Wycliffe is a Wycliffe Foundation affiliate organization.