Translation projects continue apace in Togo

LOMÉ, Togo — Togo is extremely rich in languages: no fewer than 42 are spoken by its 4.5 million inhabitants. There are complex links between many of these languages, and it is very common for people to be bilingual. Producing new and revised Scripture translations, even just in the languages which are most widely spoken, is an ongoing challenge for the Bible Society of Togo and its partners.

Between them, national Bible Societies within the United Bible Societies fellowship have around 700 translation projects under way at any one time. Of these, Togo currently has six at various stages of completion: Ntcham (Bassar), Kabiyé, Lama (Lamba), Éwé, Gen-Gbe (Mina) and Moba. The brief snapshots that follow, extracted from a report produced by the Bible Society, give an insight into the progress that has been made with some of these projects and into the factors that can speed up or slow down a translation team’s work.

Significant

The translation of the Old Testament into Bassar, the language of around 100,000 people in Togo and a further 50,000 in Ghana, is a joint project with the Summer Institute of Linguistics. A significant stage in this project was reached with the publication of the Book of Genesis, a development which was very warmly welcomed among speakers of Bassar, many of whom attend literacy and Bible Study classes. The next important stage, the completion of a first draft of all the books of the Old Testament in Bassar, was expected to have been reached by the end of 2003. This year, the translators will devote a lot of time to checking sessions before turning their attention to the Deuterocanonical books.

Disrupted

The Lama Old Testament translation project, based in the northern town of Kante and supported by partners including the Roman Catholic Church, the Baptist Convention and the Pentecostal Church, has been temporarily disrupted by the fact that one of the team, the Rev Alandjo Kempou, has been recalled by his church. However, the other translators continue to make progress. Joseph Gnelosse is due to spend six months studying Hebrew in Jerusalem this year, while his colleague Anam Medjamna will draft Leviticus and Deuteronomy. After Mr Gnelosse’s return, a third translator will join the team. All this will depend on funding becoming available, however. The Bible Society has so far provided 50 per cent of the funding, but has been unable to allocate sufficient resources to it in its budget for 2004.

Financial difficulties are already hampering progress with the translation of the Old Testament into Kabiyé, spoken by around 700,000 people in Togo. In this case, it is the Churches which have been unable to meet their funding commitments. The Bible Society needs to raise US$12,000 if it is to finance the entire project this year without help from the Churches: it plans that, if this money becomes available, a new project schedule will be drawn up and the work reallocated.

Enthusiasm

The Bible Society’s report concludes that, in every case, computers and related equipment would greatly assist in speeding up translation projects. “There is great enthusiasm for each of these projects from the native speakers of the respective language,” it emphasises, “but the progress of the projects is constrained by the availability of resources.”