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| Lino Smith, who is heading the project to translate the Old Testament into Cuna. Panama City, Panama. Photo: UBS/Dag Smemo (PAN03DJ-136) |
PANAMA CITY, Panama — Lino Smith is a pastor and linguist who is heading the project to translate the Old Testament into Cuna. Jointly funded by the Bible Society of Panama and Wycliffe Bible Translators, this project employs Mr Smith and three to four other Cuna people full time at the offices of the Bible Society.
There are some 70,000 Cuna speakers spread across Panama. Traditionally a simple oral language, Cuna did not appear in written form until the publication of the Cuna New Testament in 1970. Mr Smith and his colleagues are now steadily working through the challenges of conveying Old Testament concepts in Cuna.
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Examples of words with no direct equivalent and the solutions the translation team came up with: altar: ‘Where we make sacrifices to the Lord and burn a gift’. priest: ‘He who prays to the Lord on behalf of his people’. prophet: ‘A person who receives a message from the Lord and passes it on to his people’. |
“We plan to finish work on the Old Testament within eight years,” he says. “It’s a hard job because we often come upon words and notions in the Bible that we don’t have in our own language. For instance, how do you translate the priests’ costumes in the Old Testament? We have to describe the costumes and what they are used for. [See box (right) for other examples...]
“We believe it is possible to save and develop our language, in particular now that we are to have the whole Bible translated. The Bible is very important to any language. The younger generation use Cuna on a daily basis. They are bilingual; Cuna and Spanish. The older ones have heard about the Bible, but now they will be able to hear God’s Word presented in the language of their hearts.
“Singing is used a lot in our culture to pass on our history and our traditions. Our chiefs pass traditions on to the next generation by singing, and teach us in this way. A lot of the Christian music we have probably uses tunes and words from North America or from other Latin American countries. But we are trying to make our own Christian music as well. This will be easier when we have the Bible in our own language.
“I started translating because I have a deep desire to see my people reading the Bible in their own language. A few years ago we were able to show the Jesus film with commentary in Cuna. Afterwards one of our chiefs said, ‘Jesus speaks our language. Jesus speaks Cuna!’
“It is a privilege for me to be able to work on translating the Bible full time for so many years. I learn a great deal about the Bible, and this gives me great pleasure. I try to pass on my knowledge about the Bible to my people.” (WR 384/10 - 3.04)