Experiment speeds up Solomon Islands translation project

ADELAIDE, Australia — An experiment carried out on the final stages of the Varisi New Testament translation project is expected to place the new Scripture in the hands of the 5,000 Varisi-speakers on Choiseul Island – one of the 800-odd islands of the Solomon Islands – 18 months earlier than originally thought.

Translation work on the new Scripture was completed in late 1999 by Martin Tako and Clement Tapide after 11 years of work. The text was tested and checked and, by late 2000, was ready for final corrections and adjustments by the translators.

Long distance

But, with the long distance between the Computer Assisted Publishing (CAP) Centre in Australia, where the text is typeset, and the translators, who are based in the Solomon Islands, this process can take up to two years.

That is why Dr Carl Gross, UBS Translation Consultant, and Susannah Hill, an Editorial Officer at the CAP Centre, travelled to Gizo in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands, bringing with them the text of the Varisi New Testament on a laptop computer. This had been typed in previously by Ms Hill using hand-written drafts.

In Gizo they met the translators who had travelled from the remote villages of Vuruvuru and Sirovanga where they live.

“In nine days of intense work the four of us worked right through the text of the Varisi New Testament and made all the required corrections directly onto the computer,” explained Dr Gross. “Ms Hill can now return to Australia and produce a final proof before preparing the camera-ready copy for printing.

“I believe that having Ms Hill and the translators interacting face to face has cut at least 12 to 18 months from the final editing, typesetting and printing schedule of the Varisi New Testament. “Without this interaction, Ms Hill and the translators would have had to post corrections and revisions to each other, probably two to three times, to make sure that all the details were right.”

Post

Dr Gross added that post between Australia and isolated areas of the Solomon Islands can take up to four or five months, and that contact by telephone or e-mail is not possible.