Wycliffe Bible Translators
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
Please see the discussion on the talk page. |
Wycliffe Bible Translators is an international, interdenominational or parachurch Evangelical Christian organization with International headquarters in Dallas, Texas, USA. It is dedicated to making a translation of the Bible in every living language in the world that needs one, and to seeing those evangelical Bible translations are used by indigenous (and occasionally remote) populations.
Wycliffe was founded in 1942 by William Cameron Townsend. There are currently branches in over 50 countries (see Wycliffe International website for a list), although there a number of nations that have banned or limited their activities. Wycliffe conversely maintains that they keep the highest possible standards, consisting of the following:
- A linguistic and anthropological orientation is upheld.
- Service is stressed.
- All field work is done in cooperation with host governments, universities and philanthropic groups.
The organization is named after John Wycliffe, the first person to compile a translation of the Bible into Middle English.
Contents |
[edit] Organization
SIL International, originally the Summer Institute of Linguistics, started as a small summer training session for missionaries in Arkansas in 1934. They are a partner organization of Wycliffe Bible Translators.([1]); see the article SIL International for more information about the work of SIL/Wycliffe.
Another partner organization and subsidiary of SIL International, JAARS, originally the Jungle Aviation And Radio Service, provides transportation and technical services for missionaries and associated development workers.
Wycliffe Associates is a volunteer organization that exists to support Wycliffe Bible Translators. It provides a place for volunteers to use their gifts and abilities to support Bible translation. Wycliffe Associates' relationship to the main Wycliffe organization varies in the different countries in which it operates. Wycliffe Associates US and Wycliffe Associates UK are separate organizations to Wycliffe US and Wycliffe UK.
The Seed Company, is a subsidiary of Wycliffe USA that provides support to local translators, including in areas where "hostile environments make translation work difficult to impossible for outsiders."
[edit] Mission
Bible translation is a method used by Christian evangelists to spread the message of Christianity. The justification for this comes from the New Testament passages, of Matthew 28.19, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations....", and Revelations 7.9-10: "After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb."
The mission's experience advocates that having the New Testament message translated into the heart-language is critical to the understanding of the Christian doctrine to would-be disciples. The use of a non-heart language translation tends to limit the appeal of Christian doctrine (it is often seen as an ‘outside’ force) and severely impede adoption by prospective Christians, and may perpetuate serious doctrinal misunderstandings. Even 130 years ago James Stewart, a leading missionary in Africa, said "No record exists, as far as I know, of any mission, whatever be its methods or history, making much real progress and becoming permanent among any people, if the Bible has not been given to them in their own vernacular." This view, maintained by modern evangelical organizations, such as the Overseas Missionary Fellowship (OMF) and Africa Inland Mission (AIM), is emphasized in their training of new missionaries to immediately learn the heart or native language of the indigenous group upon the missionary's arrival.
Wycliffe emerged from Townsend's Protestantism which sees the intercultural and cross-language spread of the Christian message as a vital command from Jesus himself which all Christians should support in one way or another. This type of Protestantism adheres to the principle of sola scriptura and regards Biblical texts as the authoritative infallible and inerrant word of God. Wycliffe's methods, while aiding in spreading the Christian gospel cross-culturally, emphasize a Protestant understanding of the faith.
[edit] Historic Method
In a pioneering Wycliffe mission, Wycliffe senior workers first present the ministry's advantages to the government in charge of a region, and then request permission to operate. The application is always made in the government's native language, in a culturally-adapted form.
After it receives permission to operate, several small teams research a region's linguistic populations. Usually they search for populations that are strategic in some form, a bridge to other populations, a trading group, or at least a central location.
After this survey, teams are sent to each linguistic group. Strategic languages may have higher priority, but even small language groups will eventually get a team.
A team is usually a married couple or two singles of the same sex. The team is introduced to a friendly group, usually with the aid of bilingual helpers such as traders or guides. The team lives on site, and attempts to speak the language, usually with children and old people who stay near home. Formal recordings, word lists and grammars are kept, usually on computers, backed up periodically to the national mission.
When the phonology is well understood, the team selects a writing system similar to those in use by nearby trading languages. For example, in the Middle East, Arabic lexicography is often used, while in South America, the Latin alphabet is usually preferred.
After a writing system has been created, the teams starts literacy education with the peoples native language. Even if there people can read some language in the area, they have never read in their native language. In many areas WBT works literacy levels can be very low. Creating reading curriculum to read in peoples native language is also important to motivate people to read. Previously much of this material was translated, to help the team practice translation. Nowadays as much as possible is created from local folklore and similar material from local cultures.
At some point, the team begins to translate short portions of the Bible into the native language. The translation is always tested and corrected with several native speakers, as well as the existing lexicographies and grammars. At some point in modern efforts, computer-assisted translation may start, but the computer's text is merely a starting point for a more careful manual translation.
In the beginning of Bible translation, the focus is in completing one of the gospels, and then the rest of the New Testament. Completion of parts or all of the Old Testament follows, and the work is sometimes taken over in large part by multilingual native pastors and Christians working in association with WBT.
Once the Bible is translated, high-quality low-cost printings are arranged, often through one of the United Bible Societies.
Before computers, the whole effort from creating a written form, to finishing a Bible translation could take some 25 years. New methods are now collapsing this, in some cases to perhaps 5 years.
[edit] Recent Developments
The huge recent growth in Christianity outside the West, and the increasing educational standards of many of the target people groups, mean that Wycliffe is now increasingly able to use local ('national') people, or Christians from other non-West regions (e.g. Asia, Latin America), as translators, as well as Western (ex-pat) translators. The challenge is that many of these people do not have the relatively rich personal support networks that ex-pat Westerners typically have.
Many people groups in the 21st century use a major language for formal occasions, a trade language for the marketplace, but their own vernacular language for 'heart' thinking, including their underlying worldview - and crucially some portions of scripture in the vernacular or 'heart' language can be critical in a person's true grasping of Christianity. In such situations the translation of the complete NT or Bible may not be necessary; for example the translation of Luke's gospel, and its use as a soundtrack to the 'Jesus Film', can be appropriate and hugely valuable.
Other recent developments are the simultaneous translations of clusters of related languages, and the use of translations in oral forms (instead of through literacy).
[edit] EasyEnglish
One Wycliffe project (under Wycliffe Associates (UK)) is translation into a simplified English form developed by itself called EasyEnglish (very similar to Basic English). There are two levels:
- Level A (very easy) has a vocabulary of about 1200 words. It is designed for people who are learning English as a foreign language.
- Level B (easy) has a vocabulary of about 2800 words. It is suitable for people who speak English as a second or foreign language. It is about the same standard as the Cambridge First Certificate in English. The Level B translations also have Bible Commentaries in the same documents as the translated text.
For further see http://www.easyenglish.info/.
[edit] Vision
Wycliffe aims to start a translation in every language that needs one by 2025 (see vision2025.org). As of the end of 2005, Wycliffe's current pace is to have a translation started in every group by the year 2038 (from [2]).
[edit] Criticism
1. Wycliffe has borne part of the historical attacks on Western missions for damaging local cultures by altering their religious beliefs, and influencing them to philosophies and beliefs they would not normally encounter and creating dependencies on the Wycliffe field organizations. However, Wycliffe maintains it is very sensitive to these issues in its field work.
2. Wycliffe has been experienced by some historically as a dominant and US-oriented organisation which can be difficult to partner with. Wycliffe is now working hard to develop its culture, particularly to work better in servant teams with local churches and other missions.
3. Wycliffe has produced little measurable evidence of the impact and fruit of its work. Some supporters have experienced over-long projects, or projects where translations seemed to experience little actual usage by the people group. However other anecdotal evidence, of conversions and revival among people groups, is strong. The clear (and increasing) views of other missions about the critical value of reading in the vernacular language are another powerful positive argument for the value of Wycliffe's work, and peer views of Wycliffe appear very positive (e.g. Question 8 in www.gfa.org/gfa/faqs). Wycliffe has also been a part of translating 710 New Testaments and Bibles, representing over 78 million people, and are working on about 1,400 others.
4. Some Christians are concerned that Wycliffe is only translating for very small people groups and Wycliffe advocates counter that argument with a NT passage from Matthew 18.13-14: "And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.". However some 270m+ people remain without a translation in their heart language, and Wycliffe does consider the size of people groups, the likely longevity of a given language, and the extent to which that people group is literate in another, previously translated, language in its resource allocation decisions.
