CAP offers exciting prospects for translation work in Africa

By Dr Mark Cook, UBS Fundraising Communications Officer

AFRICA — Translating the Scriptures into African languages remains, in most cases, a very labour-intensive and challenging task. In the absence of modern computer facilities, the translators spend many long days writing out manuscripts by hand, taking great care to be as accurate and faithful as possible. Their material must then be transported, often over long distances, to be typed by people who may not speak or understand the language concerned.

Errors

This means that errors can creep into the manuscripts, requiring the translators to check everything again, correct it and send it back for re-typing: this process may have to be repeated up to five times because new errors emerge with each re-typing.

The lack of modern computer facilities creates other problems for Africa’s devoted translators, too. They do not benefit from access to the tools and resources which can help them in making accurate and fully-researched translations, and they are unable to pass their material easily to experts for comment and correction. Later in the production process, there are problems with integrating into modern production processes and a risk of manuscripts being damaged or going missing.

Addressing problems

The United Bible Societies is seeking to address these problems, and is urging its member Societies to try to provide the US $200,000 necessary to implement a Computer-Assisted Publishing (CAP) program which will supply essential equipment for 67 translation projects in Angola, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda and Zambia.

On a human level, CAP has the potential to make a vast impact. In Gambia, Mali, Mauritania and Senegal, for example, there are around two million people who speak Pulaar.

Those who are seeking to bring God’s Word to these people need the Bible, and a computer system would make it possible for the translation team to begin work.

In north-western Kenya, the translators working on the Pökoot project have to make the difficult journey to Bungoma, more than 100kms (70 miles) away, to have their manuscripts typed.

e-mail

Much time is spent travelling and correcting mistakes made by the typists. In Ghana’s Cape Coast region, the Fante translation team’s work would be greatly assisted and speeded up by e-mail facilities, avoiding the need to use the very slow postal system when manuscripts need to be sent for correction.