Author: SIL Tanzania

Wrestling with Paul: seven translation teams become one

In a “cluster project” of multiple languages, teams routinely help each other in many ways. But when fifteen translators on seven teams line up their desks to spend two weeks together in one room, it means something big is underway. They are joining forces to wrestle with Paul’s letter to the Romans. Inside the hall, it’s getting busy and loud…

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Local ministers study Kabwa Scriptures with solar audio

In the Kabwa language area, over forty church leaders came together for a special ministry workshop. After translators completed Scripture portions in Kabwa, the team made audio recordings, and loaded them on solar-powered audio players. Now those leaders were learning to use the players in mother-tongue Bible study…

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“These words in my language revealed God for me.”

In a Burunge village of central Tanzania, an elderly woman recalls a time when famine forced her people to leave their homeland. She follows another major world religion but, when her young relative (who works as a Burunge Bible translator) came to visit, she gladly welcomed hearing him read to her from a portion of Scripture written in her own language…

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Branded or glued? A translation challenge…

As the Jita translators work, they find themselves grappling with the imagery in Revelation. In English, one word can describe ‘seals’ on both scrolls and foreheads. But there is no single word in Jita which can be used that way. So the team launched into research…

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Translator takes risk so people can see JESUS film

When Rangi Translator Paulo Kijuu is not working, he motorbikes from village to village selling books and showing the Rangi-dubbed JESUS film. One night, his projector’s battery was dead. Kijuu’s prayerful solution was perfect, but it came with a big risk…

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First Scriptures: God Speaks Mbugwe!

There was great excitement in the Mbugwe language community when they gathered to celebrate receiving the Scripture of Ruth and Jonah in their mother tongue. The books arrived in a large box amidst a parade of Mbugwe people singing and dancing…

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“Now we know: This really is OUR book!”

Teams in Dodoma needed help to illustrate new literacy and Scripture publications. “Two or three local artists might have got a couple days of personal training,” said one of them, “if not for an outbreak of cholera.” Instead, a maximum capacity class of fifteen illlustrators (from five area languages) traveled to “the big city” for a week…

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Heading towards Burunge dedication

We know our work towards the goal is not “a battle against flesh and blood, but against the powers of darkness.” Knowing this makes the daily obstacles we face all the more a priority for prayer…

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Young translation project gains momentum

The Mbugwe language community is excited to be involved in translation and literacy work. Mofulu and Shishe are Mbugwe speakers, and have served as translators for several years. But their relatively new team faces many challenges…

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