One Verse at a Time

"How can you make that sentence a bit shorter and less confusing?" "Who is Abijah and how do we make that clear in your translation?" "What does it mean to return someone to God?" These are just a few examples of the many questions I asked the Ikoma translators as we began checking their translation draft of Luke 1 last Friday.

Before we began working together, I had looked at their translation and compared it to various Swahili and English versions and of course the original Greek as well. As I compared their translation, I wrote down any questions or issues that I saw, from sentences that weren't very clear to words that seemed to mean something different from the Greek. Since I am not fluent in Ikoma, the translators had translated Luke 1 back into Swahili, word for word so I could understand the Ikoma translation.

Then we sat down together and went over my questions, verse by verse, coming up with ways to solve the issues. Sometimes it meant changing a sentence around, or using a different word in the sentence. Sometimes it meant deciding to add a picture of the temple into the translation when it's published or adding another phrase to explain that Abijah was a person, not a place.

The work was slow and I thought it might be tedious but in truth it was one of the most fun times I've had at work! I loved helping make God's word more clear, more accurate and hopefully easier for people to understand. There was a sense of satisfaction when we wrestled through an issue. For example, how we can we translate the metaphor 'throne of David' in a language and culture that has no idea of what a throne is or what it represents? There weren't always easy solutions and we'll definitely be looking at some of these issues again, but it was so rewarding to know we had made a verse more clear and accurate.

God's hand was definitely on us that day. It wasn't my insight or wisdom or that of the translator's that caused us to see these issues and how to solve them, but it was God's. I know, because I was sick and tired and was not bursting with ideas. But as we got underway the ideas came, the Swahili words I needed were there and my energy level increased. The only explanation is God.

This is just one step of many to come before we will publish Luke 1 & 2 but it has been a very encouraging and fun step to be a part of.

Missionaries Don't Wear High Heels

I had a funny moment at work last week caused by my shoes. I was wearing a pair of white shoes that have a bit of a heel on them, maybe a couple of inches. I was walking past one of the translators and he stopped me to ask a question. "Are you going to fall?" he questioned me curiously. I just looked at him blankly, completely confused. He must have understood my look because he went on to explain that I was wearing heels and since westerners don't wear heels, only Tanzanians do, I must not know how to walk in heels. The logical conclusion was that I would probably fall since I couldn't walk in heels.

Of course this just made me even more confused, having no idea where his conclusions came from. I asked him why he thought Westerners didn't wear heels. He looked around at all the other Westerners in the room and said that he never saw them wearing heels, only sandals. Therefore it seemed obvious to him that Westerners in general don't wear high heels.

Suddenly it all made sense. His experience with Westerners has been mostly missionaries who often prefer to wear sandals due to the heat and dirt. It is a little more tricky to wear heels when walking on dirt roads and so we often gravitate towards sandals. However Tanzanian women love shoes with high heels and wear them quite often. I laughed and tried to explain to him that back home where I come from, lots of people wear high heels. He looked slightly skeptical and I'm not sure if he believed me.

As amusing at this incident was, it made me think about how easy it is to judge people based on only a little bit of information. From the example of a few missionaries this Tanzanian made some sweeping judgments about millions of people in the Western world. Yet I know I am guilty of doing this same thing. It's easy to see two or three people do something and then judge every Tanzanian to be the same way. Not all assumptions are bad or wrong, but too often they can hurt relationships or stop us from really getting to know people because we've already labeled them.

I was labeled as being unable to walk in high heels and although it was funny, it also wasn't exactly flattering to be considered incompetent in this area. I won't forget this example and I hope it will always remind me to be careful in my judgments and assumptions.