Wycliffe - Bucket List Visit

On my bucket list is - Visit Wycliffe Bible Translation on the field.  Why?  Wycliffe was my first exposure to missions.  Both times I visited Wycliffe offices in the States I was on tour with my choir.  The first time was on high school in Pennsylvanian, the second time was in Florida in college.  Both times Wycliffe left an impression on me.  

In high school I was amazed at some of the tribal languages in the world and then in college I got a lesson on the similarities between languages.  Having seen the movie "Come by Here" (the story of a single missionary going to a remote village to write down a people’s language for the first time, teach it to them, and then later help them translate the Bible into their language) I have always been fascinated by the process of Wycliffe and their mission to see the Bible in every language and tongue.

In Kenya with a few down days, I thought this would be a good opportunity to see Wycliff on the field.  With the Wycliffe office only 3.2 km from the AIM guest house I thought I would walk.

It was a little bit of an adventure since I have never spent time in Nairobi, but with good directions from Google.maps I headed out.  Thankfully many locals were willing to point me in the right direction and an hour later I made it to the offices.

As I sat down with a Kenyan women in the Bible Translation and Language office I was curious how BTL related to Wycliffe.  It seems Wycliffe is ahead of their time because when they came into Kenya in 1981 rather than establishing their own headquarters they started BTL as a Kenyan run business and trained Kenya to run it.  Wycliffe still has offices in the building, but the main ministry is run by Kenyans.  Amazing.

My first question was about the process of connecting with a people group in order to write their language.  With so many aural people groups I wondered if preserving this way of life was better than requiring a people group to have their language written just so we could translate the Bible for them.  Thankfully, the answer I received was that often people groups hear about the work of BTL and request  their language to be written down.  Secondly, before going into an area surveys are done to see if the people are interested, if there is another written language they are already using or if they really are in need of a written language.  After determining that a written language is needed Wycliffe partners with the people so that they are the ones writing their own language down.  Once the language is established a school is started, not only to teach everyone the written language, but also to begin educating the people, particularly the children.

After the language is learned people from the village help translate the Bible into their own language starting with Matthew.  It is said that each time the book of Matthew is brought in written form into a village the people celebrate with great enthusiasm because they have their own language written down. 

Surprisingly it takes 15 years to translate the new testament in order to maintain the meaning while still keeping the translation true to the way the people speak.  Then it is another 15 years for the old testament.  Can you imagine?  30 years to translate the Bible and we can pick it up and read it in many different English translations any time we want.

It was amazing to hear about Bible translation here in Kenya.  The exciting news is that Wycliffe is also in Toliara.  My leaders said I can visit them when I return and watch as they work to translate the Malagasy Bible into the dialects of the people I work with every day.  Pretty cool.

Steps to Translation:

1. Survey an area – determining if a written language is wanted and needed

2. Write the language down with the help of the people.  

    This includes letter, words, means, and grammar.

3. Teach the written language to the people.

4. Translate materials including the book of Matthew with the help of the people group.