Addicted to the Game

Kicking up a large cloud of dust, we took our recent drafts of Luke 15, 23 and 24 on the road for some rural community checking. You see, it’s one thing for our foursome in the translation office to agree on a particular wording for a certain phrase or turn of events, but if that phrase doesn’t communicate clearly or correctly outside our office walls, out where the daily water is drawn, where the cattle are taken to graze, where the hoe breaks the hardened ground, where the grain is ground into flour, and where the local beer is passed around at the evening fire…if the Word of God does not communicate out there, then we are investing a VERY LOT in something of VERY LITTLE value. If we are aiming to arrive at a clear and correct translation of Scripture for the Gmz church, then Scripture testing in the local community is of utmost importance in properly setting that course, especially in these opening moments as the massive translation engine is pulling out of the station.

 To be honest, the idea of a community testing trip both excited and scared me. Of course, I was excited to see both the comprehensibility of our work and the reaction of its hearers, but at the same time, I am not the type of person who likes putting himself in potentially awkward situations. Stop, I know what you are thinking, “If you want to avoid uncomfortable situations, why in the world did you go into this line of work?” Well, that’s another story I guess, but still the introvert in me knots my stomach every time I walk into an unfamiliar situation. Thankfully, on this trip I had two security blankets to which to cling. First, I know enough Gmz language to make people believe that I know more than I really do. And when a foreigner starts speaking confidently in the Gmz language, that in itself becomes the talk of the village and opens the door to their relaxed acceptance of my presence among them. Second, this trip would be taken as a team and in all reality, I, as the translation advisor, had very little to do with setting up or running these comprehensibility tests. In other words, I could hide behind their leadership as they related to their own people. My only real job was to work the Mp3 player so we could listen and re-listen to the passages under question.

 Over TWO days of travel, we visited THREE villages spending about TWO hours at each location, each time asking more than ONE HUNDRED comprehension questions and all in all, the result was VERY encouraging. Two or three of the questions were consistently answered incorrectly, revealing a true problem that needed our revision. For example, in Luke 23:7, we had a pile of pronouns saying something like “When Pilate heard that Jesus had come from the land ruled by Herod, he sent him to him.” Now, to those of us who know the story, we know the characters, we know the situation, and we can easily sort out this pronoun mess. However, when we asked the rural Gmz people, “WHO sent WHO to WHOM?” it became entirely clear how entirely unclear our translation was. Upon returning to our office we knew we had to make at least one of the participants explicit – “When Pilate heard that Jesus had come from the land ruled by Herod, he sent Jesus to him.”

Some of the most helpful discussions in the community checks revolved around key terms. It raises my blood pressure just to think of opening some of those messy cans of worms among a large group of people, but that is exactly what we did.

 

Take for example the incredibly hairy problem of finding a word for “Lord” (Gk. kurios) The Greek lexicon gives a long article about this particular word, and rightly so, as it is a very important, loaded word within Scripture. The two main senses are:

1. One who is in charge by virtue of possession or ownership

2. One who is in a position of authority

Both of these senses are brought out in the English words ‘lord’ and ‘master,’ both of which have association with (though not limited to) the practice of slavery. But think about it, it’s true. When we call Jesus our ‘Lord’ or ‘Master’ we are in effect calling ourselves his slave, servant, or possession.

The Gmz language has a strong word for slave, used in the past era when they were sadly on the receiving end of such oppression. However, when I asked what the owner of a slave was called, I repeatedly hit a brick wall. We literally spent hours arguing about how we can best render this term in the Gmz language. Churches in a different Gmz dialect had adopted a particular phrase “etama” which means “owner.”  My question, “Who is the etama of that cow?” makes perfect sense and is commonly used, but believers in our dialect area refused to accept that term being used for the ownership of people, even in a slave-master relationship. “Who is the etama of that slave?” or “I am a slave, and he is my “etama?” These simply could not be said in natural Gmz. So, if this phrase wasn’t possible, what was? Slaves in Gmz culture might refer to their master as a “father” but that obviously introduces more problems as the image of a “father” in Scripture is already used in a very different way leaving it unavailable to carry the load of “lord” as well. After many hours of discussion, over several days, the best we could come to in our translation office was the listing of four different options separated by slash marks – “Etagirba” (the one with power and authority), “Etamakaala” (the one who is able), / “Etama” (the owner of animals and things), and “geta” (the Amharic word for Lord).” 

Can you see why opening this discussion to a new group of people would scare the willies out of me? Yet, my fears didn’t get the best of us. At our first village test, when the translators came to the first passage in which we struggled with this word, I encouraged them to take the plunge into an all-out discussion. Taking a deep breath, Thomas introduced this problem, doing a great job of leading the discussion in such a way as to allow the group themselves to wrestle with the challenge (rather than us simply handing them a review of our conclusions). After a good fifteen minutes of group discussion, argument, back and forth, follow-up questions, and a general consensus of frustration, the group threw the problem back in our lap saying they rejected the use of “Etama” (owner of animals) but that they had no other solutions to offer.

 As the conversation started to move beyond that issue and onto the next question I jumped in, “Hey, what do you think about ‘etagirba’ (the one with authority)? Can I ask, ‘Who is the etagirba of that slave?’ Or ‘I am a slave and God is my etagirba’?”  Our growing circle of participants and onlookers fell silent as the wheels of thought changed direction. Finally, as if on cue, several people started talking at the same time “Hey, that could work!” and “Yea, that makes sense!” and “I like that, it is clear!” Having entered the problem themselves, having wrestled with it and having been initially defeated (not unlike ourselves), their minds were fertile soil for the well-planted seed that we, as a team, had agreed to be the best option in the absence of a perfect word. The result of that fifteen minute exercise was fun and rewarding not only for the participants, but it was also immensely encouraging to us as a translation team.

 

This was the outcome of our first village visit, but praise be to God, this same scenario was played out in the other villages are well. I can’t tell you how fun it was for me to see three different collections of Gmz people genuinely struggling with their language, searching after an accurate translation, coming up empty-handed and then seeing their collective countenance brighten at the suggestion of a workable solution. Some might consider this work incredibly frustrating and tedious, and I can’t disagree with that. But, at the same time, it almost feels like a game.

Super Mario Brother’s was made to be beaten (without warping, you cheaters!) as the little, yellow-haired princess was mercilessly held by a bunny-hopping dragon. It was made to be beaten, and that in itself added to its addictive hold on my young mind. How many times did those stinkin’ hammer brothers best me before I could experience the world beyond! Yet, their seeming invincibility only fueled my NEED to try again! Like the honorable princess-saving quests of the heroic Mario and Luigi, I believe, the translation game was made to be overcome. God’s Word was given for all peoples of all languages…it was made to be translated. At the same time, I believe that the Gmz language, beautiful in all its uniqueness, was crafted to communicate its Creator’s love to the Gmz minds. Finding the keys that unlock each problem passage isn’t supposed to be easy, but that doesn’t mean the keys don’t exist. Searching for them is the game we’re addicted to.

Ps. After arriving home from the road, I felt like a dirty piece of tumbleweed. Washing off only one foot revealed that in fact I was.