Solomon Islands translators
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SOLOMON ISLANDS — Economic, social and political instability are creating many practical problems in everyday life for the 480,000 residents of the Solomon Islands. The insecurity is traceable back to the rise of ethnic tension in 1998. Many public servants have not been paid for several months, schools are not operating, air and sea transport are often disrupted, hospitals lack basic supplies, phone lines are unreliable and the cost of staple foodstuffs has risen dramatically.
Those working on the translation of the Old Testament into Solomons Pidgin, which is spoken by around 20,000 people as a first language and around 300,000 altogether but is not the official language, have not been spared these difficulties. Life has been very challenging for the translators, especially financially, but their commitment has not wavered. They have drafted the entire Old Testament text, but around half of it has still to be checked and their work is not expected to be completed until late 2005.
Evolving
The New Testament in Solomons Pidgin was published in 1993, but already needs revising because the language is evolving rapidly and the translators have gained further experience which will allow them to improve on the translation. Aloysius Jack, the senior translator, will begin this work as his involvement with the Old Testament project comes to an end. He has devoted 20 years of his life to Bible translation, making many personal sacrifices.
The translators’ greatest concern is that it will not be possible to raise locally the estimated US$ 100,000 required to produce a first print run of 10,000 copies of the complete Pidgin Bible. Even when the Bible is printed, many people will not be able to afford it, in spite of any subsidies, as the very weak state of the economy brings the risk of producing a society which prefers to distribute goods by bartering rather than the use of currency.
Financial problems have also hit work on the translation of the Old Testament into Roviana, which is spoken as a first language by around 12,000 people and as a second language by around 10,000 people, mainly in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands.
Missionaries
Roviana was taught by Methodist missionaries in their schools and is still widely used throughout the United Church in the Solomon Islands. The Roviana New Testament was published in 1995, but the 20 members of the Roviana Bible Translation Committee also hope to be able to publish a Shorter Old Testament.
With contributions from Dr Carl Gross,
Translation Consultant with the Bible Society
in Australia, and from Good News for the Pacific, August
2002. (WR 372/28 - 11.02) 