Page 15 - Testify 15 Oct 2020

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Keyboard volunteers recover lost Bible translations

Three Bible translation agencies have of the concentration needed, as well as
teamed up to make the Bible more wide- the skills she has had to acquire in order
ly available in hundreds more languages to key in Micmac characters. ‘I have to use
through an ambitious digitisation project. keys I’ve never been near before,’ she said.
MissionAssist, Bible Society and Wycliffe Bi- ‘Some letters require four keystrokes.’
ble Translators are appealing for volunteers
to digitise Scripture translations so they can She said: ‘It’s very satisfying because
be made freely available on major platforms you’re enabling someone to get access to
like YouVersion. the Bible. You’re also helping to save an
endangered language – the world goes
The work involves copying translations wild about endangered species, but we
which only exist in printed form because forget that our own languages and cultures
they were made before the digital age, or are disappearing.
because older digital copies have been lost.
Many of these translations are in minority ‘You’re not only meeting someone’s spiritual
languages whose speakers don’t have ac- needs, but keeping alive someone’s heart
cess to the wealth of resources in their lan- language.’
guage that English speakers do. As well as
serving the needs of Christian nationals and MissionAssist’s Chief Executive Officer,
Bible students, digital translations – because the Revd Daryl Richardson said: ‘A Bible
they widen the range of literature available cannot do much lying in a library storeroom
in these languages – help ensure the surviv- covered by dust, but when people read or
al of these languages and cultures. hear the Word of God for themselves then
lives are changed. It is such a valuable
Digitising texts also means earlier transla- work – with eternal consequences – when The Bible written in Luganda language
tions can be revised and unfinished projects volunteers give some of their spare time
completed, and Braille versions can be pro- in making the Scriptures accessible in the
duced for blind people. nations for whom they are intended. These
people are not part of the translation pro-
Led by MissionAssist, the Bible Digitisation cess but by using their computer keyboards
Project involves training volunteers in the at home, after training from MissionAssist,
keyboarding skills they need to transcribe they make books of the Bible available for
Bible text in a language they don’t know. people to read or hear in their own country.
Volunteers need basic computer skills, but
most important is accuracy and an ability to ‘It is a privilege to be able to send the word
concentrate. of salvation from the comfort of our own
homes around the world.’
In the technique developed by MissionAs-
sist, two volunteers work independently on Wycliffe’s Executive Director, James Poole
the same text and their results are collated said: ‘In a world where almost one in five
and checked against the original printed text people don’t have access to the Bible in
and corrected as needed by another volun- their own language, but where smartphone
teer to ensure the highest possible level of and internet use is growing rapidly, this is
accuracy. a really strategic initiative. Having digital
Scripture in both readable and audio form
Mrs Christine Reynolds (76), from Balham, can be transformative for churches and
is digitising the Psalms in Micmac, an en- communities, and Christians here in the UK
dangered indigenous language used by can make a real difference to this.’
fewer than 7,000 people in Nova Scotia.
She said the work is demanding because Bible Society’s Chief Executive Officer,
Digitising Bible translations in Thai Lan-
guage
Paul Williams said: ‘Digitising translations of
the Bible is hugely important. Bible Society
has the largest collection of printed Scrip-
tures in the world, and within our archives
are texts in languages which have no Scrip-
tures online.

We want to make them available as widely
as possible so more and more people can
read the Bible in their heart language. We’re
delighted to be working with other Bible So-
cieties and translation agencies to make
this happen. Keyboarding volunteers have
a vital role to play in making God’s word ac-
cessible today.’

One of the translations being digitised is
in Kare, a language of the Central African
Republic (see ‘Case study’ below). One in-
digenous speaker working with Wycliffe on
a revision said: ‘Since my birth I have never
seen a text in Kare. But now we have read
a text in our own language for the first time!’

To find out more about the Bible Digitisation
project or about how you can help, contact
Volunteer Enquiries:
Volunteers give some of their spare time in making the Scripture available in many other languages volunteers@missionassist.org.uk