The Jamaican Language New Testament Story - Language: curse or blessing?

Hubert Devonish, Guest Columnist

Language lies at the heart of the Christian tradition. Within this tradition, all humans originally spoke a single language. Once, however, they chose to defy God and build the tower of Babel, they were punished by each one beginning to speak a different language. They were cursed by language.

The incomprehension and confusion of these people give rise to English expressions such as 'a Babel of confusion'. Then, in the New Testament, at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles and they were given the ability to speak in other tongues. This allowed them to speak to the crowds that had gathered, each in his or her own language. The Holy Spirit was thus cancelling out the effect of the Tower of Babel by giving the followers of Christ the ability to rapidly and widely spread the gospel. The Holy Spirit made language a blessing.

At the heart of Christian belief is the idea that the gospel should be spread across the earth, in all languages. As an evangelical religion, Christians are required to spread the Word across all nations and language groups. They are required to do this to create the conditions for the second coming of Christ, which can only take place when all human beings across the earth have had a chance to receive the gospel.

Christian belief and tradition is preserved through the scriptures. The injunction to spread the Word across all nations and language groups to prepare for the second coming of Christ can only be realised, therefore, through the translation of the Bible into all the languages of the earth.

The entire Bible has been translated from its original languages of Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek into 450 other world languages. However, of the 6,860 spoken languages that exist in the world, sections of the Bible have been translated into 2,500 of these languages. Many of these languages had never been written before the Bible was translated into them. Bible translation brought with it, therefore, a writing system and literacy in these languages.

JAMAICAN TRANSLATION

Efforts to translate the Bible began with a group of volunteers associated with the Bible Society of the West Indies in Kingston in the early 1990s. Jamaica, then as now, was suffering from ill effects of crime and violence. The feeling among some of the original group was that this was happening because the message of the gospel was not getting out to those participating in violent acts, even though they may have been exposed to formal Christianity.

The view was that the message of the scriptures was lost because it was not being communicated in a language most Jamaicans could understand well. Of course, people had a general idea about the contents of the Bible in its existing English form, but full understanding and a deep emotional connection were absent. The originators of the project wanted to produce a translation of the Bible which would achieve just this for the mass of ordinary Jamaicans.

A 'commonsensical' response to the idea of translating the New Testament into Jamaican is that everybody understands English in Jamaica. Jamaicans, therefore, have no need of a translation into the Jamaican language. What, however, are the facts?

A 1983 study of uneducated working-class Jamaicans' ability to understand the English of radio news broadcasts suggests that they can understand just 50 per cent of what is said. A further complication was that they not simply failed to understand the rest, but actually misunderstood, with all the implications that that brings. A 2006 study by the Jamaican Language Unit (JLU) of Jamaicans' demonstrated ability to produce English and Jamaican in speech suggests that 82.9 per cent demonstrated an ability to use Jamaican, 63.5 per cent the ability to use only English, 46.4 per cent being the bilinguals.

It is clear that competence in Jamaican is more widespread than competence in English. But, in the end, even if just one per cent of the population did not understand English, would Christians not believe that they, too, need to be able to access the Good News in their own language? Isn't it their responsibility to make the Good News available in the languages of all people on earth? And if so, what makes the Jamaican language and the speakers of that language an exception?

TRANSLATION PROCESS

The new Jamaican Language New Testament Translation Project started in 2008. It was a four-year project that was completed in 2012. It was planned as a gift to the nation on its 50th anniversary of Independence. The project was carried out by a three-person team of translators, two with linguistics postgraduate training, and one with a theological background. They were backed up by a team of biblical scholars familiar with the original koiné Greek in which the New Testament was originally written. It was from the original text in koiné Greek that the Jamaican language translation was done, not English.

An example of how that process would take place. The translators would check the Greek original. A sample of this is the beginning of Matthew 1:18, which covers the events surrounding the birth of Christ. The Greek original begins, 'Tou de iEsou christou hE gennEsis ... .' The translators would start this original, the various English glosses and translations for each word, and using the range of available English translations for the passage as a rough guide. They would then find the Jamaican language translation which most fits the original Greek version.

This text would then be submitted to the exegetes, the biblical experts familiar with the koiné Greek original, to be checked for accuracy. Where the translators had deviated from strict correspondence with the original, this inaccuracy would be corrected by the translators. The text would then be sent to the JLU. The task of the JLU was to check the language for naturalness and authenticity, and for accuracy in the use of the spelling system. As part of this process, a glossary of Jamaican language words and phrases for Bible translation was created to guide the translators.

We can examine an example of the outcome of this process. The Jamaican language version of Matthew 1:18, the Greek version of which was just referred to, is as follows: 'Dis a ou Jiizas Krais did baan. Im mada Mieri did jos ingiej fi marid Juozif, dem neehn kom liv tugeda yet laik ozban an waif, bot dem fain se shid did av biebi iina beli, an di Uoli Spirit did put di biebi de.'

The English, King James Version read: 'Now the birth of Christ was on this wise: When, as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.'

At the time of the announcement of the project in 2008, one newspaper, in an attempt to discredit the project, presented its own spoof translation of this text which included the sentence, 'De Holy Spirit breed Mary.' The actual translation establishes that the Jamaican language can be both expressive and subtle.

PUBLIC
RESPONSE

A number of focus groups were conducted
between 2009 and 2011 to test people's acceptance of the translation and
get their suggestions for how the translations could be worded better.
These focus groups were conducted in churches in St James, St Catherine,
Manchester, St Ann, Portland, St Elizabeth and Kingston. The
participants heard audio versions of some of the most popular passages
in the New Testament, notably the Lord's Prayer, the Proverbs and
Beatitudes. The participants were asked to give their opinions about the
naturalness of the Jamaican language style and
sound.

Because most Jamaicans would not be able to
read the Cassidy-JLU writing system, an audio version was used in these
discussions. The responses were overwhelmingly positive. A typical
response was, "I have read the Bible in English and have heard it being
read in English, but nothing has quite brought it home until I have
heard it in my own language."

As already mentioned, in
focus groups, informants were presented with sample translations in
audio format. The constant request during focus groups by participants,
that they be presented with the written versions of the texts being
tested, should have warned us. All who were close to the project had a
perception that the translation was about producing an audio version of
the New Testament.

From the time of its inception in
the early 1990s, the BSWI translation project operated on the assumption
that speakers of the Jamaican language are unable to read their
language and that the translation would have to be presented in audio
format. In the two early translation activities, On the
Sovereignty of God/Gad Ron Tingz and The Christmas
Story/Di Krismos Tuori, the BSWI promoted the audio versions
of these translations.

BATTLE FOR
ACCEPTANCE

There was one standard line in the face of
the criticism that Jamaican is not a standard language and cannot be
written or read by ordinary Jamaicans. This was that the translation was
going to be made available to the public in an audio
format.

The focus group participants were, however, by
their requests, pointing us in a particular direction. The very culture
of Christianity, as a 'religion of the book', ran counter to an audio
version as the main product of the translation. Even when an audio
recording was available, the truth, the Word, was considered by
believers to be embodied in writing.

Let us
fast-forward to late 2012. By a process of gradual evolution, the
translation project has come to have as its main focus the actual
printed New Testament. The Cassidy-JLU writing system has been adopted
for it, and there is a growing programme of activities to familiarise
both the clergy and the public with the writing
system.

The newspapers and radio stations are asking
the public whether they are able to read the new Jamaican Language
translation of the New Testament.

The battle for
acceptance, even though assisted by the existence of a high-quality
audio recording, will be fought over the actual printed form. That
message has been received, albeit later than if we had listened to the
voices of our focus group participants. The beautifully packaged
Jamaican Language New Testament, complete with the Jamaican flag on the
cover, and national colours on the case, clearly signals a recognition
of this reality.

Hubert Devonish is professor of
linguistics and coordinator of The Jamaican Language Unit. Email
feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and
hubert.devonish@uwimona.edu.jm.