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Contents

• Background
• Preparation for Translation
• First Draft
• Second Draft
• Preparation for Publication

See also:

• Translation Theory and Practice
• Types of Translation
• Goals of Bible Translation
• Team Roles

Typical Procedures of Bible Translation

Background

The procedures described here apply particularly to Bible Translation projects in minority languages around the world. However, many of the stages described here apply in all Bible translation projects.

For each Bible translation project, the procedures of translation and the order in which they are done, will vary. This will depend on

1. The team involved (translators, facilitators, consultants, back-translators, committees, reviewers, etc.)
2. The stage of the work (beginning translation or more advanced)
3. The situation in the area where the language is spoken; for example, whether there is an active church or not, and whether the translation team includes educated mother-tongue speakers of the receptor language

In most Bible translation projects in minority languages these days, educated mother-tongue speakers of the language are involved, and the actual transfer into the receptor language is made by a mother-tongue speaker.

For this reason, in the discussion below, the term "translator" is used to refer to the mother-tongue translators or co-translators. The "translation facilitator," sometimes called the "linguist-exegete coordinator," "advisor," or "project advisor," is typically a member of SIL or of a National Bible Translation Organization (NBTO), or of some other missionary or Bible translation organization. He or she is a full-time member of the team, someone who has knowledge and skills in linguistics and biblical exegesis to offer, and who will also have a role in training co-workers and often also in coordinating the work.

A "translation consultant," on the other hand, is an experienced person who visits the translation project from time to time to encourage and help the team, to guide and train them, and to help in checking the translation.

Another term that may need explaining is "reviewer." In areas where there are churches and where there are educated speakers of the languages, representatives are often appointed to assist in checking and giving feedback on the translation. Often they may represent different denominations, or different dialect areas, or other sections of the language community.

The situations in which Bible translation is being done vary greatly and the approach and division of the work will vary too. In every situation, however, it remains true that translation is teamwork. The following summary attempts to trace from start to finish the progress of a translation in an area where a church already exists and where local Christians are actively involved in the project and to indicate, at each stage, which members of the team are primarily involved. (It may be necessary to repeat some steps more than once.)

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Preparation for Translation Phase

Before translation work can begin, basic groundwork has to be done. This will include:

• The planning and organization of the project, interacting with church leaders and others in the area
• The formation of an organizing committee, sharing of information
• The selection of translators and the beginning of their training
• The selection of a location for work
• The raising of funds
• The analysis of the sound system and grammar of the language
• The development of an orthography, if not already established
• The conducting of a dialect survey
• The making of an agreement on which dialect will be used in the translation.
• The learning of the language and culture by non-mother-tongue team members

This done, translation can begin.

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First Draft Phase

• Prepare the First Draft
  • Discover the meaning of the source text
    The translator and/or the facilitator study the meaning of the source text in detail, researching any exegetical, textual, translation, cross-cultural or other problems.
  • Make a first draft translation
    The translator makes the first draft, often working closely with a translation facilitator.

• Improve the First Draft
  • Check the translation with the translation facilitator and with other team members
  • Prepare any supplementary materials needed to provide essential background information (e.g., book introduction, glossary entries, footnotes).
  • Keyboard the translation on a computer (if not already keyboarded).
  • Test with other speakers of the language. The translation should be tested at this point with at least two other individuals or groups.
    • For the first two or three books translated, the consultant check will come at this point.
    • For other books it will usually come at a later stage (see below).

• Revise the translation in the light of suggestions and comments
  • Make a revised draft. This is done by the translators and the translation facilitator.
  • Enter the changes on the computer disk.

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Second Draft Phase

• Proofread and carefully check the corrections against the former printout.
• Review
  • Prepare copies of the translation for Reviewers and for testing with other speakers.
    (These would probably be computer printouts or photo copies from the computer version.)
  • Send copies to Reviewers (with a system for gathering in comments).
    Sometimes the reviewing work is done most effectively through personal interaction as reviewers meet together to discuss the translation and make their suggestions for improvement.
  • Test the translation further with other speakers.
    The translator may think that the translation means one thing, but when he or she tests to find out what other people understand from the translation, he may discover that to the hearers the meaning is something quite different from what he intended. So plenty of testing with speakers of the language is needed to find out whether the translation is communicating the message accurately and clearly.

• Check with a translation consultant (if not checked at an earlier stage)
  • Make a written back-translation. Where possible, the back-translation should be made by a mother-tongue speaker, someone other than the translator, so that it reflects what the text means to a speaker of the language.
  • Team check the back-translation, and revise.
  • Do a verse-by-verse check with a translation consultant.
    This is done by the translation consultant and translation team, with other mother-tongue speakers.
  • Incorporate revisions.

• Test the translation
  • Prepare and distribute trial copies of the translation for testing in local churches.
  • Gather feedback.

• Revise the translation in the light of suggestions and comments
  • Translators and translation facilitator revise the translation
  • Enter the changes on the computer disk.

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Preparation for Publication Phase

• Choose illustrations and maps (if used).
  The translation team and the reviewers or the local Translation Planning Committee decide on what is best. They also double check any other supplementary material.
• Check for consistency in translation.
  For example, check that parallel passages in the gospels are the same where they should be the same, that all proper names are spelled consistently, that key biblical terms are, where appropriate and depending on the context, translated consistently. Also check for consistency in handling numbers, money amounts, weights and measures, et al., also translation of features such as rhetorical questions, figures of speech, genitive constructions, et. al.
• Check the consistency of mechanical details
  • Section breaks, section headings and paragraph breaks
  • Spelling, and the transliteration of loan words
  • Use of capital letters, punctuation, and hyphenation
  • Chapter and verse numbers, and cross-references
  • Standard format markers, and special characters
  • Layout and format (indentation, style, etc.) of Old Testament quotations, poetry, and lists.
  For all these checks, computer programs are of enormous help, but a lot of painstaking human labor is needed, too.
• Check the accuracy of the translation, comparing back carefully with the source texts. In the course of improving the clarity and naturalness of the translation, inaccuracies may have crept in. So a final check for accuracy is always needed.
• Read through the translation. The translation team and church representatives need to get together to review and see whether they are all satisfied that the translation is really ready to go for publication, and to discuss and resolve any remaining problems.
• Check prepublication requirements. The translation team need to make a last check with the translation consultant to make sure that all the final checks have been covered and to discuss any remaining problems.
• Final approval from the translation consultant and Branch Director.
• Proceed to the typesetting phase. Here a computer typesetting supervisor will guide the team through the stages of pre-typesetting checks, paging, placing of illustrations and footnotes (if used), until, finally, the photo-ready copy is ready to go to the printers.
• Publish!

It is recommended to publish books of Scripture as single books before publishing a New Testament or larger volume of Scripture. This provides opportunity for feedback and wider testing. The team also gains valuable experience by working right through all the stages for a single book.

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Of course, this only represents the surface of the work. Much prayer, sickness, traveling, struggles, many heartbreaks—and much joy and blessing, too—go into the making of a Scripture translation.