On November 24 we received this email from Tom Puaria, one of the two Takuu New Testament translators, who is now being trained as a translation advisor for other languages:
“The Nukuria Translators, Gideon Wamba & David Paukie, arrived today on the MV Kisso Maru and are living here at the Buka Center. We will be working in my flat and Sharon will be cooking for them.
I am planning to start with half a day of general discussions tomorrow and probably start with the adaptations after lunch. We will be working together on the adaptations starting with Luke. After each chapter, I will have the translation printed out and have them make corrections together as we progress.”
And then we received this update from Tom on November 26:
“David & Gideon are into the 4th chapter of Luke with their adaptations, and after each chapter, I have it entered into Paratext. I plan to print out their drafts from Paratext with double spaces and have them take home with them for corrections.
I reminded them this is only an adaptation and that the real translation begins afterwards, these guys are smart with their adaptations. We noted down whole sentences where they believe needed re-phrasing and major keyterms they need to bring to the attention of the Committee on the island.
After the first couple of days of working together, these guys seemed very efficient with the computer with minimal supervision.
The Community support toward this project is very good and the Committee has already started with their fundraisings. The Committee Chairman will be in Buka early January to open the Project Account.”