Q: What language do you translate? Do you need to learn lots of different languages?

A: As a consultant, my main task is not to do the actual translation, but to help mother-tongue translators to do the work themselves. I assist them throughout the project to make sure they are translating correctly.

For each language group, the translators prepare a rough draft, referring to tools and translations in languages they know. This can be done in their home villages, and it gives us a starting point from which we can work. Several times a year, the translators meet with a consultant for a workshop to check a portion of the translation. Little by little, they go through every verse of the translation to check its accuracy against the Hebrew or Greek text.

Although I am learning one of the local Chadian languages, with so many translation needs, it just isn't possible to learn every language we are working with!  So in most cases, I can read none or very little of the language into which we are translating the Scriptures. However we have a system which enables me to understand the translation.  Before the workshop, a member of the translation team produces an interlinear: a copy of the translation, with the equivalent word in French (or English) written below each word of the translation.  Here's an example of an Sara Kaba Dem-French interlinear:

The interlinear enables me to understand what the translation is saying.  Before each workshop, I study the interlinear, comparing it to the Hebrew or Greek and making notes on anything that I think may need to be edited or discussed. Then during the workshop, we discuss each of these issues (and any other that come up), talking about what the translation is saying, and what the Hebrew or Greek means, and how to make sure they are both saying the same thing.

This method of translating enables both parties to use their strengths to their fullest. They know their
own language much better than I could ever learn it, and I have the training and skills in Hebrew, translation, and linguistics that most of them have not been able to obtain. This method is also much more efficient than if I needed to learn the language first, because it means I can work with multiple languages at the same time. We communicate in a language known to us all (in Chad, usually French), and with careful communication and various helpful tools, the work is completed accurately and efficiently.