Supercalifragilistic...

Yet another check? I am frequently amazed at the number of checks, each its own hoop that each Biblical text must jump through before any official ink hits paper. After one translator drafts a text, the first check is a "translator check" in which the other two translators read the draft and make revisions. Next I take that same text and study it against the Greek text, English translations and a large tool bag of translation helps. This step is called the "exegetical check." My exegetical check yields a harvest of a hundred and one questions (ie. potential areas of improvement) that I need to discuss with the translators. Those questions are then the basis of the "team check" during which I and the three Gmz translators open all the cans of linguistic and cultural worms we can find in order to come to agreement on what is the best possible translation. Following the team check, we then bring that text to the "review committee check" so that a larger group of Christians can hear our translation and give further comments/suggestions for revision. If something doesn't make sense to the review committee, we haven't done our job well as we strive for both accuracy and clarity. After the community has spoken, our text is back translated word-for-word into Amharic so that an outside consultant can study it and give outside feedback into potential problem areas. Typically, this "consultant check" is seen as the end of the translation process, but don't be deceived by such simplicity! As we learned with trying for the past year now to publish Luke, it's not so simple. An initial "spelling check" and "layout design" last February/March was rendered obsolete with a series of major spelling changes made this past summer. A second spelling check, and a second round of layout design last month and we were ready to hand over our Luke text for official printing.

 

The final touch of our fingers on the text involved scanning each line break in the printed text. You see, there is a strict rule stating that Gmz words cannot be broken between lines, not even with a hyphen as is acceptable in English. This is likely a reaction against the confusing Amharic spelling practice of breaking words over line breaks without any such symbol. But it is a good rule, especially for pre-readers (which is pretty much all Gmz at this point). And so agreeing with this rule in principle, I set to revising Luke's gospel to remove all the places where Microsoft Word broke and hyphenated words at line breaks. A tedious process but not a terribly difficult cherry to put on top of 18 months of work.

 

As I revised my way through the text, I encountered a few problems. First of all, the Gmz language is not at all shy of long words, especially when it comes to complicated verb forms. Recently we were checking our way through the Pastoral Epistles and we stopped to marvel at the lead-off hitter in 1 Timothy 2:14 –  "Kama'iyaakashalis'eyaaŋgwaam kamaça-da kalaaç aMisa ká-ama." meaning "do not neglect the gift which God gave you." "Kama'iyaakashalis'eyaaŋgwaam" consists of 27 letters, 10 syllables – a real mouthful compared to the English "do not neglect." What does it mean piece by piece? It means "with-to stand-you-with-down-stomach-ear-not-you." Makes sense, right? Well, the "with-(infinitive)-you…not-you" is pretty standard for negative commands – don't do this! "to stand…down" is the common word for "sitting down." "stomach" is used for inside and "ear" is often used for listening/obedience – in this case the idea of "sit-inner ear" communicates sitting idly.  The final piece to the word is the /ka-/ found in the middle of the word, that is the preposition that means "with something." In this context, it is "kamaça-da" which means "with the given thing". So, all together now! "Don't sit idly with the gift God has given you!" Or if you prefer, "Don't neglect your spiritual gift…" Fun stuff, I know.

 

Having to manage a text full of long words like this, I can't blame Mr. Gates (that is Microsoft Word) for wanting to break and hyphenate the word over a line. But I didn't have such a luxury. However, there is an exception to the rule. Many long words in Gmz are already hyphenated compound words, made up of either adjective-noun or noun-noun compounds.

                mpuu-ahwa – white-clothes

                obatsa-manzii-kwaafa – big-green-toad

                luk'o-hosa – head-cow

                k'oo-Tomaas – dog-Thomas

                ça-taak'a – seed-millet

                jisha-gahasha – stone-flour (grinding stone)

                sii-sohwa – rope-metal (chain)

                aya-jizok'wa – water-sesame (sesame oil)

                etamazee-jaaja – one who guards-sheep

 

And, as normal words can get long, these hyphenated phrases can also get quite long, especially when more and more modifying adjectives and nouns are added to the chain. When checking 1 Timothy 6:19, we revised our word for "firm foundation" – a rather difficult word for a culture who knows very little about building out of stone. The phrase we've decided upon thus far is "eemagaha-maat'oosha-matuhosha-mas'a" meaning good-beginning-nailing down-house. The "nailing down" word is the word that they use for digging deep into the earth and securing the main posts/pillars on which the rest of the house is built. This "word" is 30 letters long, but it is clearly made up of four smaller words, four words that the readers eyes has already chunked separately. If the reader already views them separately and the hyphens function in more of a grammatical role to show the relations between the nouns, then why not allow line breaks to break such phrases at normal word breaks. It certainly transforms the page layout phase from a nightmare into a mere restless sleep.  And so, the Gmz spelling rule was revised – one cannot break words at line breaks, except where a hyphen already exists in compound phrases. Putting these final polishing touches on our beautifully hyphenated language, we breathed our sigh of relief and I handed the text over to the publishers for printing on October 28, 2014.

 

But not so fast! Three weeks later I was told that the publication has been delayed by one final check required by the publisher – that being called the "manuscript check." Now, I have yet to find out what this manuscript check really involves, beyond being told that a professional will look at our text and look for errors. "What kind of errors?" I asked, not sure of exactly what to worry about. "Oh, you know," the response came back, "things like hyphenation at the end of lines." Noooo! My insides churned like butter as I bit my tongue. Sooner or later, I believe we will see Luke in print. I'm curious to know what further checks we'll encounter along the way.