New Scripture will boost churches

The Dagara New Testament is likely to be published next year. Anasthase Somé, one of the translators, discusses his work

DIEBOUGOU, Burkina Faso — For translators Jean de la Croix Hien, Alain Pascal Somé and Anasthase Somé [no relation], nothing could lift their spirits more than to see the publication of the newly completed New Testament in Dagara (Lobr). They have been at work on the translation since 1997.

“Of course, we want to see the Dagara Bible produced, but that is going to be some years ahead. We have only just begun to work on some of the Old Testament books,” says Anasthase Somé. “The aim we can focus on now is the production of the New Testament, and we know that it will be a great boost for the churches.”

Effective

They recognise, of course, that the whole process of checking and text editing has to come first. And they would like to incorporate the reactions they get from the two Portions they have prepared: Mark’s Gospel and the Letter of James. When these have been distributed among the churches they should provide an effective test of the translation.

With more than a million people speaking it and another million who speak the related Wule dialect, Dagara (Lobr) is one of the few remaining ‘major’ languages (‘major’ being defined as ‘having more than a million speakers’) that does not have many published Scriptures.

A small, illustrated book was produced in Dagara for use in Sunday Schools. It is called God Speaks to his Children: Words of the Bible.
“This was not translated using the UBS principles of dynamic translation, nor to the standard required by the UBS Translation Consultant,” Mr Somé explains.

Each translator works on a passage and prepares a draft translation of it. Then the team discuss it and compare it with the original, after which it is passed to the reviewers.

The reviewers then send it back with their comments and a new draft is prepared for the translation consultant. If an important issue arises, the entire reviewing committee is convened to discuss it.

From time to time, the translators encounter words in the original which have no ready equivalent. The word ‘hypocrite’, for example, does not exist among the Dagara and the team were hard-pressed to find a single word which carried the full meaning. In the end they settled on an illustration: by using ‘like a cat – nice to your face but devious when you’ve turned your back’ they were able to reproduce the meaning of the original.

The names of exotic natural items are often a problem, too: trees which do not grow locally, gemstones and the like can be hard to deal with.

Creative

“A translator has to be able to invent, borrow or transliterate where there are no equivalent words in the receptor language,” Mr Somé explained. “Sometimes our work can be quite creative!”

On the other hand – and surprisingly, perhaps – the Book of Revelation, with all its picture language, presented the translators with no special difficulties they had not already encountered.

The Roman Catholic Church and the Assemblies of God provided the translators; the UBS helps the work by providing quality control and financial support and will produce the finished book. This will be an interconfessional translation of the Bible which can be used by all the Christian churches.

The Bible Society will try to work with Campus Crusade to get the Jesus film dubbed into the Dagara dialects of Lobr and Wule. There is already a version in Ghanaian Dagara.

“We are hoping that the Dagara New Testament will be ready soon after the launch of the two major Bibles in this region: the Bobo Madaré and the Jula Bible,” says Paul Ilboudo, Executive Secretary of the Bible Society.

“This Bible will make a huge impact upon the Dagara people and be of great benefit to the churches. We will also produce a set of audio cassettes containing this Dagara New Testament and this should encourage the development of literacy skills and generate a greater desire to read the Bible.”

There is some Islam in the south of the country but it is largely restricted to the Jula communities. There are few Dagara-speaking Muslims.
“It is difficult for a Dagara to become a Muslim without facing censure from his people. On the other hand, a Dagara man can easily become a Christian,” says Mr Somé.