When you think of the work of Bible translation, what do think of? Annoyingly tedious day in and day out? You're right! Personally challenging and spiritually enriching? You're right again. But you might not realize that it isn't all down to business seriousness. Rather, laughter is a frequent visitor to our office, providing a welcome respite between arguments.
Sometimes jokes are planned as my study alerts me to a word or phrase that is difficult to render and so I often create a hypothetical scenario in which the word can be tested. Of course, I do my best in weaving in one or more of the inside jokes I hold with the translators. Back in Gesas, Taage (the smallest guy in our group) was always the hypothetical "short end of the stick guy" and WoHis (the biggest member of our group) was always the hero/champion. The story Jesus told of the stronger man coming and overpowering the weaker one, pillaging his house and dividing the spoils (Luke 11:21-22), made for a great laugh when real faces are put on the nameless characters. With the official translators, Work'u somehow got a bad rap as a fornicator, Thomas is a polygamist (because he is in love with overusing certain words) and although the Bible never mentions it, Saul certainly fell off his donkey when he saw the light… trust me, its funny. But, as is always the case with trying to retell inside jokes on the outside, they aren't funny, so I'll spare myself the effort.
Sometimes, laughter makes its appearance unexpectedly. It could be concepts previously misunderstood, words misspoken (usually by me), or possible interpretations of an ambiguous phrase needing revision. One day, last summer, I remember Work'u and Maateyos working away at Biblical key terms in Luke's gospel while I lounged on the other side of the room finishing the final chapters of exegetical check. Unsure of the word used for Peter cutting off the high priest's servant's ear, I waited for a good time to interrupt Work'u and Maateyos' work. "Work'u, what does it mean to dashiil someone's ear." Giving me the immediate translation into Amharic, he replied "Dashiil means to cut." But I waited for a moment as I could see in his face the unsettled look of confusion. "Wait," he asked, "How did Peter cut his ear?" Now it was my turn to wear the face of confusion, "I don't I imagine, he grabbed a sword and went like this. Why?" Work'u shook his head, "Then we can't use dashiil, we should use daciil. Dashiil means to cut like this…" he began to saw his finger against his ear. Suddenly, all three of us burst out laughing at the mental picture of Peter running up to the servants ear and sawing away at it. What would he have been saying, "Hold still! This will just take a minute here. Drat, I should have sharpened my blade a bit, if only I had known you were coming…" Both words, dashiil and daciil can be translated as cut, but I'm quite certain that Peter did not saw off an ear.
Every piece of language encodes tiny details which when not used careful paint a picture close enough to sometimes go unnoticed, but far enough away to be downright hilarious. Finding these mistakes, and taking a moment to laugh at them with the translators is one of the best parts of me job. And consequently, its these shared memories, these times of laughter that deepen our mutual friendship and help us through the times that are tedious and taxing.
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