How Not to Do a Bible Translation

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An Alaskan radio station is reporting on the dire reception of a new Tlingit (an indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast of America) encyclopedia.  “The problem is: The language in the book is not recognizable by contemporary scholars, or Native Tlingit speakers.” All in all, the story is absolutely baffling and provides a very clear negative example for Bible translators.

What the author did wrong:

  • She did not employ the already established Tlingit writing system, leaving her work illegible
  • She used a non-conventional spelling of the language in the title
  • She’s entirely unknown to the the people for whom she did the encyclopedia
  • She remarks, “I think often I’m led spiritually, and I don’t make my decisions with the full knowledge of the situation.”
  • To elders, who learned Tlingit at the knees of their parents and grandparents, her CD recordings are gibberish

Does the author then view her self-published work as a waste? She describes her motivation,

“To some degree I think I was trying to bring my mother and father back together through my Celtic heritage. My father had a little French, and my mother had a little Scottish. And I thought that when they lost their culture, they lost their reason for being together. And I think that deep in my heart I was looking for that family togetherness, and I wanted to find that through language.”

What?!

Read the full story (with audio).

(HT: Language Hat) New Tlingit encyclopedia baffling to scholars, speakers _ KCAW

5 responses to “How Not to Do a Bible Translation”

  1. How Not to Do Bible Translation « Better Bibles Blog

    […] in Bible translation of Alaska Native languages. I just discovered a blog post titled “How Not to Do Bible Translation.” The post begins: An Alaskan radio station is reporting on the dire reception of a new […]

  2. Bryon Avatar

    “I think often I’m led spiritually, and I don’t make my decisions with the full knowledge of the situation.”

    I was surprised the person in question wasn’t a missionary. In Church circles, this is NOT an uncommon way to do things…

  3. Sheila Johnsons Avatar

    How I wish she should know first the importance of translation before she did it. She is just wasting her time doing such task. It is important for a translator to have a thorough knowledge about the language she is suppose to translate.
    Translation can be a difficult task because who need to break the language barrier but if you will “just” translate, people who read who translation will just lead to confusion

  4. […] kata Drew) Rate this: Like this:LikeBe the first to like this post. This entry was posted in Peculiar and […]

  5. Don L. Avatar
    Don L.

    1 Cor. 14:9

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