The workshop and distance learning program posed an urgent need to translate the Bible Teachings Series and Luther’s Catechism into the Nepali language. And this in turn creates a need to raise up translators among the people in the church, who are not only highly literate in their own language and capable of understanding the written English text but who can also understand and articulate the doctrinal message in the source materials. Luther’s Catechism has proven to be an ideal tool for developing such a team. For several reasons:

• Translation does not exist in a vacuum. Because Christians have already
  translated the Bible and other materials into the Nepali language, we need to make sure that the terminology used in the Nepali Scriptures is used in the materials we translate. We would want users of these materials to be able to find similar language or the same language when they turn to their Scriptures. Because the catechism quotes hundreds of passages in order to teach scriptural truths, the translation team must quote each of those passages accurately. They must also find the key words in many of those passages to establish the doctrinal terminology used in the catechism. Therefore, the exercise forces translators to contextualize the doctrinal teaching to the Scriptures they already read in their language.
• The preferred Nepali Bible is more literal than the New International Version used in the English catechism. This reality helps the team understand that a concept can be expressed in different ways—that good translation does not follow the form of the original language slavishly but reforms the expression so that the message is both understandable and accurate in the target language.
• Good translation must also appeal to the ears of those who speak the target language. The enchiridion is intended to be memorable—memorized. Does the Nepali version of the enchiridion not only represent adequately the terminology derived from the Scripture passages and presented in the questions and answers, does the enchiridion also sound natural and memorable to the Nepali ear? The catechism affords an excellent pportunity to develop this skill in the translation team.
• Is the terminology used in the catechism reasonably consistent, so that a student sees a concept like justification represented consistently as it appears in various places throughout the catechism? The topical index offers the team still another way to review translation work while at the same time the team reinforces its knowledge of biblical terminology.
• Luther’s Catechism defines in the glossary biblical terms for the English-speaking students. The Nepali team will have to create a glossary that explains those terms that may not be known by their students. The process reinforces for the translation team another important lesson: they must produce a manuscript that serves the needs of their students; a replica of the English book would assume that the Nepali students lived in the same circumstances as their English-speaking counterparts.
• Translation is hard, tedious work. God gives different people different gifts and strengths. One may understand English better than another. Another may be more cognizant of the grammatical fine points in his own language. Another may be capable of digitizing the Nepali manuscript, while another may have the patience and fortitude to scrutinize the text for typographical errors. The catechism is a large and complicated book that demonstrates to the team that they are all needed, that no one person can do this project alone.

Paul Hartman

This article is taken from the Multi-Language Publications website.  Continue reading the rest of the newsletter.