Despite appearances to the contrary, I actually have a life outside of blogging. Last week I finished a semester as guest lecturer at Hefsiba Christian Theological College. Even though I’m a flaming charismatic Arminian they have put me in charge of the courses on New Testament (We’ll see how committed they are to becoming an interconfessional institute!). I’ll be lecturing there part time for the next couple years. Next week I go to Nampula to lead a dictionary-making workshop in five languages and after that I get to attend a discourse analysis workshop on 1 Timothy for four solid weeks of linguistic/translation bliss!
But I’ve got something I want to blog about. I’ve been floored by how invisible real live Bible translators are on the Internet.
Where are all the Bible translators? I googled “Bible translator blog” and the only results I got were Eddie Arthur, Better Bibles Blog and Lingamish.
Come on now, folks. There are close to 7,000 languages out there. There are more than a 1,000 Bible translations going on with groups like Bible Society, Wycliffe Bible Translators, Pioneer Bible Translators, Word for the World, New Tribes Mission, not to mention many, many denominational Bible translators.
Actually after a bit more poking around I did find a few blogs by Bible translators: Twi Bible Blog, harvest-fields, Honey, We’re Going to Africa.
For the last week or so I have been playing around with Facebook. This online community is full of young people and some of them are interested in Bible translation as a possible career. Witness the Wycliffe Bible Translators Cause on Facebook: More than 600 people have signed on to promote this cause.
But not a single person on Facebook is self-identified as a Bible translator. Well, I came out of the closet and told people that I was a Bible translator. But my organization and many other Bible translation organizations like it are so secretive that I can not even say who I work for. I have to say “Self-Employed Overseas.” Now, that’s really stupid. I realize there are sensitive projects, etc. But give me a break. I am not self-employed.
This is not just a personal identity crisis. It’s also detrimental to recruiting. Currently, the Bible translation movement is tanking at an alarming rate. Bible translators are leaving the field at a rate far faster than new recruits are entering the field.
The “secret agent for Jesus” Walter Mitty approach to Bible translation is laughable. Everybody knows exactly what we’re doing and even in the “sensitive areas” of the world our hosts know who we are despite our paltry attempts to “infiltrate” as “tent-makers.”
There are wider trends at stake. In terms of globalization, most missions organizations were birthed during the era of corporate internationalization so they are structured to replicate a “brand” anywhere in the world. But these groaning dinosaurs are having a hard time keeping apace in the current world in which individuals and causes are being globalized in a slippery, uncontrollable proliferation of ideas.
Let me close with a couple of reasons why more Bible translators are not blogging:
Lingamish’s List of “Why Bible Translators Don’t Blog”
- Most of them are introverted geeks.
- The new generation of Bible translators is coming not from the wired West but the developing South.
- The people really doing Bible translation have lousy Internet connections.
- They are “tent-makers” in a “creative-access” country and are doing Bible translation on the sly.
- They don’t see the need to expose themselves to any new ideas since they already know Greek, Hebrew and some weird language in the Amazon.
Are you a Bible translator? I’d like to hear your story. We can learn from each other.
If you’re a Bible translator on Facebook check out William Carey’s Wig: This is a group dedicated to those trying to live in the shadow of “the father of modern missions.”
Two thoughts:
I’m quite medieval in my view on theological disputes and I reckon that flaming arminians are the best sort. Then again, we can’t all be chosen to be Calvanists
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I’m not a Bible translator. My wife is, but she hardly ever blogs.
Ha! This blog made me laugh–especially the part about being self-employed. I’ll spare you my tirade on that one…
If you are defining “Bible Translator” as a person who actually translates the Bible on a daily basis, well, you won’t find many. If you broaden your definition a bit, you will find a few more.
Another reason you won’t find so many is because of our telecommunications policies.
And another reason–some people think some of us spend too much time in the internet as it is!
One way I tried to find undercover translators for a certain organization was to search for “PD” and “partners”. Very interesting to see the results.
And don’t spare me the tirade. I love tirades. Especially if I can out thainamu’s true identity…
I can out Thainamu for you, but I’ll do it privately. Suffice it to say that her husband is high up in your organisation, so watch what you say!
Everybody knows exactly what we’re doing and even in the “sensitive areas” of the world our hosts know who we are
Indeed! When I was a member I was not allowed to put in my newsletters that I was a Bible translator in a certain country in case the government found out. It was in vain that I protested that I had been introduced personally to the relevant official as a Bible translator. In practice no one cares, in all but a very few places. What they don’t like is secrecy because it makes them suspect that we are covering up political activity, which is what governments really worry about.
I’ve got a fairly long list of people involved one way or another with BT on my blog. Legally, I am self employed because that is how the British tax authorities view me.
The problem with us blogging is that for most of us blogging is a mixture of personal and professional. So if we say something stupid in personal blog, it can still be a reflection on our professional lives. In general, I agree with you and am happy that we get to live integrated lives. But, I still see the possible problems if I say something too stupid it might reflect badly on one of my colleagues.
As for my husband, I TRY and TRY to get him to read my blogs, but he’s too busy reading email
(and writing papers, and going to conferences, and etc etc.) He says he shouldn’t have to go to the internet to read what I have to say since he’s sitting less than six feet away! (BTW, you’ve met him but not me, as far as I know.)
“I have in my hand a list of over one hundred known Bible translators…”
I was pretty sure who thainamu’s big cheese hubby was but her blog is very vague…
Also, that guy was the one who got me on to flat earth etc and so you could say that he blogs through me!
My blog has a list of Wycliffe and bible-related blogs. However some of them aren’t translators, but support people. Did you know that two thirds of the people in Wycliffe aren’t translators? Half are doing support work and a third are doing literacy.
Thanks to all of you for contributions (except for Eddie’s inflammatory language). This is a cause we all care about but organizational concerns both real and imagined can actually work against us. No simple answers that’s for sure.
At the moment, I’m three hundred kilometers away from the Nyungwe translators and we are only trading messages on our cell phones. Am I still a Bible translator? I’ve never drafted a single verse in Nyungwe? Am I really a Bible translator? And the Nyungwe translators are supported by Mozambican reviewers and administrators, not to mention expatriates who do everything from consulting to computers to training center management. Then there are prayer warriors, care package senders and financial donors…
Thanks, Paul and Thainamu for reminding us that it’s a team effort.
I think that many BTers don’t blog because they are too busy.
Also, I don’t call myself a Bible translator for the reasons you wrestle with in your preceding comment, David (whoops, Lingamish). The mother tongue translators are the ones who translate. I assist them with exegesis and linguistic analysis that might help them produce a more natural translation.
Sometimes I wish that the organization of which I am a member did not call itself by a name that includes “Bible translators” since very few in the organization are mother tongue translators. OTOH, those who support our work think of us as Bible translators and might find it odd if we changed our organizational name to something like ____ Assistants to Bible Translators.
I find that blogging has invigorated my work in translation. It makes me think more, opens me up to new ideas, and gives me a lot of practice expressing myself in writing. All of that is good. The downside of course is that blogging can overshadow your “real” work and then it requires self-discipline to focus on priorities.
Hi Lingamish, I know this comment comes late but just to let you know, I am (sort of) one of those elusive Bible Translator bloggers. Only sort of because I am not yet on the field. I hopefully will be by January… meanwhile I, too, wonder about blogging and translating and how it all goes together. I’m very new to all this (not blogging, but translating etc)!
Awesome. I’ll check your blog out. Write often and tell us about your experiences.
[...] 17th, 2007 · No Comments A few weeks ago I wrote an article called Why Bible translators don’t blog. In it I pondered the absence of cross cultural ministers, especially Bible translators, from the [...]
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