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First Presbyterian Church |
BEYOND OUR WALLS
October, 1999 Missions Bulletin of First Presbyterian Church, Las Cruces, N.M. Vol. 1, No. 9
WHY ARE SO MANY LINGUISTS DOING MISSIONARY WORK?
If you think its because they want people to have the Christian Scriptures in their own language, youre right. It makes so much difference to people to be able to read Gods Word in their everyday language. Its when they have Bibles to study that people find their way to Christ and grow spiritually. Its then that churches thrive.Donna Evans, whose translation of the New Testament has just been made available to the people of a minority group in Southeast Asia, asks that we pray that it will affect their society in the ways we just mentioned. And Donna has sent us a copy! Take a look at it at the upcoming Deacons Hamburger Fry and the Salt and Light mission dinner. Form a mental picture of the unfamiliar words on those sacred pages in that minority language, and as you call it to mind, pray that God will use this translation for the people's redemption and spiritual growth.
For informed praying we need to know as much as possible about how Christians on the front lines work to bring those of other cultures to Christ. A Bible translator should be a trained linguist. She should be a descriptive linguist, trained to analyze a language into its parts and find out how the parts work in relation to one another for people to communicate. Donna Evans is one of the many translators with Wycliffe Bible Translators (WBT). She was trained under the program of the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL), a scientific and educational organization for linguistic projects that also interacts with government and other agencies in the nations in which translator/linguists work. A number of the WBT/SIL people are professional linguists holding graduate university degrees. They train the organizations personnel and help them with the various analysis and translation problems they encounter. Paul Poling has been enrolled at GIL this fall. Possibly the most prominent and most accomplished WBT/SIL linguist is Dr. Kenneth Pike, who taught and did research for many years on the faculty of the University of Michigan and has twice been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Many translators work among people who, until their arrival, had no written system for the language they speak. That doesnt mean the language is simple. It may be far more complex than English. Navajo is an example. If the people have no alphabet, the translators first task is the painstaking and often daunting task of developing one. Translators need Gods help from the beginning! They begin by using a phonetic alphabet to record every sound difference in the peoples speech they have been trained to hear, which is every sound the human vocal organs can produce. But the native speakers dont hear all the sound differences the linguist records. Since the linguist doesnt know which sound differences the people recognize and use, she has to find out. They would think she was crazy if she made up an alphabet with a symbol for every sound she could hear and tried to teach them to read and write with it.
What the speakers of any society will accept is what linguists call a phonemic alphabet. While the people may actually pronounce hundreds of sounds, many of them are unnoticed alternatives to one another that never make a difference in meaning in what they say. English is like that as surely as other languages. We have different kinds of "t" sounds, for example, some pronounced with a puff of air, as in "talk" and others without it, as in "bottle." We dont need or want a separate symbol for each "t" sound a linguist might hear, because we dont normally hear or pay attention to them and dont have to be told which to use in different words.
So, an alphabet needs a symbol only for each sound or group of similar sounds, not every separate sound. The linguist/translator follows established procedures to find out which sound differences are heard by the people and which arent--which make differences in meaning and which dont. What a job! It isnt easy, and prayer counts here, too.
But there is more painstaking work. After the linguist has formulated an alphabet, she has to find out how the sounds are used to mean things. Some single sounds may have meanings, and other meanings will be communicated by combinations of sounds or combinations of groups of alternative sounds. "Im" in English is a combination of two sounds with the meaning "not." "Perfect" is a combination of six sounds with the meaning "flawless." These two units of meaning can be combined to yield the word "imperfect," meaning "not flawless."
These things cant be explained in a few words without seriously misleading the beginner.
The point is there are standard procedures linguists follow to discover what units with meaning exist in a language and how they are combined with one another in the spoken language they are studying to form words, phrases, and sentences. Only after they have figured out these things can they get down to brass tacks with the translation task. That brings on another set of difficulties.
We should pray about everything, simple or complex, but most of us are especially impressed by the need for prayer when things are tough. Analyzing and translating a language is tough, and there is good reason for admiring Donna Evans for her competence and being grateful for her devotion and the faithful prayers of her supporters in First Presbyterian and other Christian groups around this country. We hope you will be able to prepare yourself for more informed praying as you attend the Deacons Hamburger Fry and Salt & Light Mission Dinner.
This statement of the all peoples imperative appears in each issue of Beyond Our Walls.. It is for those new to First Presbyterian Church and for those who find it helpful to review the scriptural foundation for our churchs worldwide outreach. You may want to use it from time to time as a devotional exercise.
Outreach is foundational to the life of our church. It is the backbone of the Old and New Testaments. It begins with Gods promise to bless all peoples of the earth through Abraham and his descendants. It is not an agreement to be carried out only if humans respond favorably. It is Gods unconditional declaration of what he will do through his followers.
We invite you to read and meditate on the following instances of Gods promise. The promise to Abraham: Genesis 12: 1-3; Genesis 18:16-18; Genesis 22:15-18. The promise to Isaac: Genesis 26:2-4. The promise to Jacob: Genesis 28:10-14. Davids recognition of the promise: Psalm 22:27-28. Isaiahs recognition of the promise: Isaiah 44:22; Isaiah 49:1, 5-6; Simeons awareness of the promise: Luke 2:30-32. Jesus proclamation of the promise: Matthew 28:19; Mark 13:10; Luke 24:44-47; Acts 1:7-8. Pauls recognition of the promise: Galatians 3:6-9; The promise in Johns Revelation: Revelation 5:8-9; Revelation 7:9-10.
The Bible contains many examples of descendants of Abraham, including Jesus himself, being a blessing to non-Jewish peoples. Any church that is functioning as God desires consists of Christians who are communicating Christs salvation and love through their words and lives to their spouses and children, relatives, friends, and acquaintances and, also, who are helping to send and support dedicated messengers of Christs salvation and love to people groups around the world.
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Last update
2005-07-06 20:50:24