May 17 – Translations
It is probably quite difficult for us to imagine that there are many languages that exist without written words. Linguistics was a field that didn’t encompass many of the world’s indigenous languages, much less offer translation possibilities into some of the more common languages.
Cameron Townsend and his wife were missionaries in Guatemala. He had already run into problems with the language when he memorized the phrase “Do you know the Lord Jesus?” in Spanish, not realizing that ‘Jesus’ is a common first name and the word he used for Lord was ‘Senor’ which also meant Mister. Asking people if they knew Mister Jesus didn’t get him far with spiritual ideas.
As he moved throughout Guatemala and into the highlands with the Cakchiquel Indians, he realized that very few of them even knew Spanish. He had to learn their language. It took fourteen years for he and his wife to do it, but they got the language into a written form and translated the New Testament in the Cakchiquel language.
Illness sent them back to the United States where they founded a summer institute for pioneer missionaries which would teach them to reduce a language to writing and then translate the Scriptures. The Summer Institute of Linguistics in Arkansas was opened. There were only two universities in 1934 that even offered courses in this type of linguistics. Townsend then began to work with the Mexican government to open up the various Indian communities to learning their languages.
The Institute moved to the University of Oklahoma and was growing rapidly, needing a bigger support system. In 1942, the Wycliffe Bible Translators was formed, named for John Wycliffe who first translated the Bible into English. Wycliffe would garner financial support in the United States while the Summer Institute of Linguistics worked with foreign governments.
Soon translation work exploded throughout the region, into Guatemala, Peru, Columbia, Ecuador and Mexico, adding the Jungle Aviation and Radio Service to the organization so that translators could have access to even more remote areas.
Wycliffe now has branches in over 50 countries and employs more than 6000 people. Three hundred languages are represented in scripture and more than 800 others are in process of being translated.
It is probably quite difficult for us to imagine that there are many languages that exist without written words. Linguistics was a field that didn’t encompass many of the world’s indigenous languages, much less offer translation possibilities into some of the more common languages.
Cameron Townsend and his wife were missionaries in Guatemala. He had already run into problems with the language when he memorized the phrase “Do you know the Lord Jesus?” in Spanish, not realizing that ‘Jesus’ is a common first name and the word he used for Lord was ‘Senor’ which also meant Mister. Asking people if they knew Mister Jesus didn’t get him far with spiritual ideas.
As he moved throughout Guatemala and into the highlands with the Cakchiquel Indians, he realized that very few of them even knew Spanish. He had to learn their language. It took fourteen years for he and his wife to do it, but they got the language into a written form and translated the New Testament in the Cakchiquel language.
Illness sent them back to the United States where they founded a summer institute for pioneer missionaries which would teach them to reduce a language to writing and then translate the Scriptures. The Summer Institute of Linguistics in Arkansas was opened. There were only two universities in 1934 that even offered courses in this type of linguistics. Townsend then began to work with the Mexican government to open up the various Indian communities to learning their languages.
The Institute moved to the University of Oklahoma and was growing rapidly, needing a bigger support system. In 1942, the Wycliffe Bible Translators was formed, named for John Wycliffe who first translated the Bible into English. Wycliffe would garner financial support in the United States while the Summer Institute of Linguistics worked with foreign governments.
Soon translation work exploded throughout the region, into Guatemala, Peru, Columbia, Ecuador and Mexico, adding the Jungle Aviation and Radio Service to the organization so that translators could have access to even more remote areas.
Wycliffe now has branches in over 50 countries and employs more than 6000 people. Three hundred languages are represented in scripture and more than 800 others are in process of being translated.
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