Articles
Articles on Bible translation by members of the Isles of the Sea team.
The coming of the Gospel to Nuguria
by Tom Puaria, February 2021
Tom Puaria tells how the Gospel came to Nuguria Atoll in Papua New Guinea, despite resistance from the island authorities for years.
How the Gospel came to Mortlock
by Tom Puaria, February 2021
Tom Puaria tells how the Gospel came to his home island, remote Mortlock Atoll in Papua New Guinea. This happened only in the 1980s; before that, the islanders had always resisted the Christian faith.
Lost in translation: God’s name
Lost in translation: God’s name (printable version, 32 pages A5)
by Nico Daams, February 2019
In Bible translations – both in English and many other languages – the Hebrew name of God, YHWH, is often translated as “Lord”, or something similar. In this booklet, Nico Daams points out a number of consequences of this translation choice, which does not do justice to the fact that YHWH is a name in Hebrew. Nico points out other options, which have been applied in Bible translations in various languages.
How I became a Bible translator
by Edmond Teppuri, March 2016
Isles translation advisor Edmond Teppuri came into Bible translation in an unusual way: he was more or less kidnapped to attend a translation course. But he quickly became convinced that Bible translation was for him.
Quality Bible translations in minority languages: can it be done?
by Nico Daams, May 2015
Quality Bible translations in majority languages such as English and Dutch are often made by a large team, and costs huge amounts of time and money. In languages like Kapingamarangi, such resources are not available. Even so, it is possible to make a good quality translation, if the right conditions are met. This paper explains these conditions.
When to start a translation program
by Nico Daams, February 2015
This paper lists the preconditions that need to be fulfilled before a translation program is started. This set of criteria is used in the Isles of the Sea program to determine when a language group is ready to start Bible translation.
Essential Bible Translation Skills
by Pam & Nico Daams, January 2015
This paper lists the skills needed to achieve a good quality Bible translation. No single person needs to have all these skills; rather, all skills need to be represented in the team as a whole.
The total set of skills required to translate the Bible
by Pam & Nico Daams, January 2015
Appendix to the paper “Essential Bible Translation Skills”, listing the necessary skills in more detail.
An alternative approach to consultant checking
by Nico Daams, January 2015
A good Bible translation is accurate, meaningful, natural and acceptable. But how can translation consultants know these qualities have been achieved, especially as they have to check translations in a number of different languages? This paper explores an alternative approach to consultant checking
How powerful God’s Word is in our languages
by Edmond Teppuri, January 2015
How God’s Word is understood by everyone, now that it is available in the Nukumanu language.
Reflections on the nearly-complete Carolinian New Testament translation
by Cameron Fruit, January 2015
Saipan Carolinian is a special language. It was formed by people who immigrated to Saipan about 250 years ago from many different islands and speaking different languages. Now, in 2015, the translation of the New Testament in this language is almost finished. How was this achieved and what were some of the challenges? Read about it in this short article.