“She gave birth to her first son, wrapped him in cloths, and laid him in a manger — there was no room for them to stay in the inn.” (Luke 2:7 GNT) The Christmas story from Luke 2 seemed to be a reasonable place to begin translating God’s Word into the Apal language....
“Where did this happen?” “Near Bethlehem.” “What kind of place is Bethlehem?” “A small village.” “What appeared in the sky?” “An angel.” Christmas was approaching, and the Apal people were about to hear Luke’s account of Jesus’ birth in their own language for the...
How can you translate “one fifth” into a language that doesn’t have words for fractions? …
Today — September 30 — is Bible Translation Day. We and our partners in the Bible translation movement have much to celebrate today. Worldwide, 779 languages have a full Bible and another 1,802 have New Testaments. Pioneer Bible has published five of these Bibles and...
Those lists of unclean animals in Leviticus just about killed me. Like ‘rock badger.’ Do you know what the Samka call it? It’s a ‘boulder goat.’ Like I could ever have guessed that! …
Your prayers make a difference!…
Most people assume that the national men and women who serve on Bible translation teams are Christians. While that’s a natural assumption, it is not accurate. A significant number of Pioneer Bible Translators missionaries are penetrating areas of the world’s...
Kawah men aren’t much for jewelry, aside from traditional amulets for spiritual protection. But my Kawah lady friends love all things shiny. Sequins and metallic embroidery threads are their favorite fashion statements. Cheap costume jewelry abounds in the market,...
Our West African friends Momodou and Laye are brilliant and fun-loving men. In his late fifties, Momodou has a satirical sense of humor, which reminds me of my brother Steve. Laye is much younger, about 30. He’s a sweet and kind gentleman, like my husband Chocho. Both...
Genesis. Luke. Ruth. Acts. Joshua. James. Exodus. Deuteronomy. 1-3 John. Mark. Numbers. Leviticus. Matthew. This is the order in which the Kawah team progressed through their translation project. I know what you’re thinking. Why don’t you just go ahead and say it?...
Remote Bible translation isn’t one-size-fits-all. For some teams, it works. But our team still battles power outages and tech gaps. …
Our mother tongue is the language we learned as kids from — you guessed it — our mamas. It is the language in which we think and pray and dream, and it is the language that touches our hearts and evokes emotions. It is the language in which the Word of God resonates...