Tales of a Missionary Translator

Traveling to the church, twelve minutes away, I pray for safety on these very dangerous roads as I do every time I drive during the Asahikawa winter. I’ve had several fender benders since we moved up thirteen years ago to this northern island of Hokkaido. This year we’ve already had fourteen feet of snow, and the plows can never keep up, so many roads are icy. They don’t even sell cars in this town that are not 4WD!

At the church I call Uncle Miya right at 1:00 to confirm our translation date for today, and as always the conversation takes less than ten seconds: “How are you, sir?” “Fine, thank you, and you?” “Fine. The time is as usual?” “Yes sir.” “Okay, see you then.” I have my lunch and then prepare for our time together. Frank is now retired from the field, doing a furlough replacement ministry, so alas, his expert help is missed.

To prepare for Uncle Miya, I put out the coffee, tea and refreshments. We have a nice little water cooler that puts out hot water, too. I always have for us individually wrapped “Venezuela Bitter” chocolate (delicious!) and little sugarless coffee candies. Skinny Uncle Miya thinks he’s gaining weight. Ha! I put out an extra chair next to the PC, get out all of our reference books, and open the various software packages we’ll use. Uncle Miya particularly likes checking the classical Japanese Bible, so I make sure he has that, as well as his magnifying glass with which he examines the computer screen. (Patty always has to wipe off our many fingerprints.)

After I pick him up, we talk in the car about English idioms as usual, only this time we discuss some Japanese idioms too. We also bemoan the younger generation. Kids in the high schools nowadays use language with teachers such as omae (a word for “you”) that should only be used in speaking to someone below you in society.

 

Good question! This may be the most difficult part of all in translating into Japanese, and we have discussed it extensively among our two committees. The Japanese say their society is vertical as opposed to the horizontal, "everyone equal" American society. So there are various levels of politeness you use depending on who you are talking to. The highest level of politeness is almost like a different dialect, with different verb forms and even different vocabulary.

If we were to eliminate the respect language entirely the translation would be highly criticicized by some and possibly rejected overall. So we have taken a middle ground, not eliminating the respect language, but including enough to show respect for our God, Christ in particular, whether in the narration or by those talking to Him. However, there are points when we have the Pharisees, for example, talking arrogantly to Christ, as you can imagine.

Some might think this is dynamic equivalence, wherein the translator tries for the same "reader response" as in the 1st century. However, I prefer to refer to skopos translation theory, in which the "norms" of a society are important--the vocabulary in particular that is acceptable.

 

Okay, God bless! :wavey:

 

At the church, we grab a cup of coffee and sit down together to work on 2 Corinthians 9 to 10, which Uncle Miya has been correcting for me. I access his “memory stick” and bring up the file for chapter nine. Our first big problem is “ministering” in verse 1, the Greek word diakonia. This word is a little hard to translate into Japanese because of a slightly different cultural view of “service.” Knowing the culture is very important in translation. We check how we translated it in other passages and make our choice.

Verse 5 is hard. Why did Paul have to write so often in such long Greek sentences with such complicated syntax (how a sentence is constructed)? Didn’t he know we’d be trying someday to translate his words into Japanese, which doesn’t handle long sentences well? Another thing Japanese doesn’t handle well is pronouns, but we work it out.

In verse 15 I translated very literally for the first draft, knowing it might not fly but not able to think up a good enough Japanese phrase to do the Greek justice. Uncle Miya has come up with a splendid phrase for “unspeakable gift.” I love his rendering and we go with it. How important this verse is, and how wonderful God’s gift is!

We go on to chapter 10. As always, we have a little difficulty with “bold” in verses 1-2. There are several different Greek words for courage, and various Japanese words, all with different ranges of meaning. It is always hard to find a word in Japanese that has the exact nuance the Greek word has, but with Uncle Miya’s tremendous Japanese vocabulary we handle it. His grasp of Japanese semantics (the study of meaning) is unparalleled in my experience!

Before we know it, it is approaching 5:00 and we have to wind down the work. Before I take Uncle Miya home I switch out his memory sticks and we look at some of the English idioms he’s been getting from the English newspaper (a translation of a Japanese paper) I give him a copy of every Friday. “On the house” is a good one to talk about! Think about translating that literally into Japanese: “This meal is on the house!” Huh? Another idiom Uncle Miya likes is “till Hell freezes over!”

On the way home our fellowship continues. I share how my grandfather, John R. Rice, came to Japan to preach many years ago. His Texas idioms often stymied his interpreters! In this case the translator was a brilliant linguist, having graduated from a Christian college in the States. However, he was mystified when Dr. Rice talked about the “bootlegger who got saved and cleaned up his business.” All the translator could come up with was “a shoe salesman got saved and had spring cleaning at his company.” I sympathize. I once had to translate a chapel speaker who used an illustration about a spittoon, though the Japanese don’t chew tobacco! All I could come up with on the spur of the moment was “a utensil you throw up in!”

I drop off Uncle Miya, mentally tired after a full day of translating, thankful that God has led such a great linguist as Uncle Miya to help in the translation effort, and thankful for his friendship. Later I take Patty out to Gusto, the cheap restaurant in our neighborhood, to celebrate our new couch, paid for by an American friend. A great day ends.

 

What About the Future?​

On August 14, 2008, I finished the first draft of the work of translating the entire New Testament into Japanese from the Textus Receptus. By the time Patty and I go on our next furlough, planned for the spring of 2011, Uncle Miya and I should have been able to finish revising all but Mark of the second draft. Hopefully he will be able to work on corrections while my wife and I are in the States, and we can finish the second draft of the entire New Testament in 2012. As for the rest, that will depend on our other translators and editors.

What is our next step? We are working on a pilot edition of the book of John, to be sent for evaluation to missionaries and Japanese pastors and believers of like precious faith. Input from these good people will correct a final version of John for wide distribution, reaching multitudes of Japanese for Christ. I’ve already been contacted by ministries wanting to print John’s Gospel. We also may be able to finish Romans for publication this year, depending on how quickly our Tokyo committee can finish their work.

I have been asked if I plan to translate the Old Testament, and my old Hebrew teacher has encouraged me to get my Hebrew skills back into shape. Am I up to this? Only if it’s God’s will! So, I have tentatively begun revising some of the Psalms into modern Japanese from the “Original Translation” Japanese Old Testament, checking the Hebrew while I work. This translation from the Masoretic Hebrew text was in the classical language all written documents were in until after WW2. Hmm, maybe I should read through that classical Japanese grammar I have by George Sansom as I whip my Hebrew back into shape. So much to do in such a short life!

 

The Need​

Japanese is only one of many languages that could use another translation of the Scriptures. Only 438 languages have a complete translation of the Bible, others have only the New Testament translated, and some only have portions of the Bible translated (all statistics from Wycliffe.org, accessed on 2/18/10). Yet in the homeland people seem starved for one more English translation when there are literally hundreds of modern Bible translations already!

Meanwhile, there are 2,393 languages with no portion of the Bible translated, meaning that there are 200 million people without the Bible in their own language. Most of these languages are in Africa or Asia, particularly Indonesia. I have the greatest respect for those doing tribal translation work in such areas, but the need of the harvest is nowhere near being matched by the laborers being sent.

Missionaries sometimes illustrate the great need for new missionaries by asking, if you saw ten men carrying a log, with nine on one end and one on the other end, who would you help? Of course you would help the one! There are many, many more preachers in the homeland than there are missionaries in the fields of the world. But the need for Bible-translating missionaries is even far greater. One might illustrate that need with a log with 499 men on one end and only one on the other!

Four Jewish lepers were starving in Jerusalem since their city was surrounded by the armies of Benhadad king of Syria. They thought, “We’re dying here. If we go out to the enemy the most they can do is kill us. But maybe they’ll feed us first.” So they went out and learned that, lo and behold, God had made the enemy flee, and there was plenty of food for the whole city. They ate their fill and then said, “We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king's household” (2 Kings 7:9).

The English-speaking world has spiritual bread and aplenty. Why are 200 million people around the world spiritually starving for lack of the Word of God? It’s because people are not praying enough for laborers, and many of those called do not surrender nor go. Will you go if God calls you?

The End​

 

I've finished my tale. I hope you were blessed!

Feel free to ask questions, comment or discuss. :type:

 

You're welcome. And welcome to the Baptist Board. :wavey: