hi I'd like to talk to you about vernacular resources for local communities
in particular about mother-tongue resources for local churches and pastors
first
a thougt or two about the different language possibilities
for Christian Resources
vernacular languages have huge advantages, they speak to us quicker
because they're the language of the marketplace and the home
and they speak to us deeper because they're the language of the home
the language of the heart
but the Imperial languages: English, French, Portuguese, Lingala
or whatever
the languages of the conquerors have advantages too
they are convenient, they are the trade languages
the languages which enable us to speak with our neighbours of different tribes and tongues
and very often they are the languages used in education
they are the language of writing
but this poses a problem of media
because with conventional translation and publication approaches
we have high set up costs
the cost of translation, the cost of preparing to print
or whatever, high set up costs can only be offset by mass delivery
so we go to print, radio, and such technologies
but
that combination of high setup costs and complex technology means that we have to
produce resources primarily in the Imperial languages
the result
is to some extent however hard we try
superficial communication
with the vernaculars by contrast
we get rich communication
in an oral medium, an appropriate medium
BUT the resources will be small-scale, there are few people who speak any particular
vernacular
and so there are no economies of scale so
media and scale are a problem for us, a choice of mass media
means however that pastors
must, whether we like it or not, whether they are capable of it or not
learn to be literate, learn not just to read
words but to deal with whole swathes of words
and these words will come to them
in another language. They must learn the language of empire
the language of theology and church in order to learn
about Bible and God
the result is that to some extent Christianity
becomes or remains a foreign religion
pictures like this are all too common still around the world
both on people's walls though without this nice frame and in people's hearts
and heads... Vernacular resources
have been aimed largely at lay people only
it's the only way to get the numbers. They are rare
and they can't be quickly adapted to changing circumstances
because of the setup costs.
So, that's where my idea of vernacular oral translation comes in
it's really quite simple
we supply laptops with a load of books on
to senior pastors
the senior pastors agree to read a chapter a week
and as he or she reads the chapter to translate it paragraph by paragraph
into their own mother tongue and as they translate it paragraph by paragraph
to record it paragraph by paragraph. It's fairly quick and fairly easy
though admittedly the translations are gonna be pretty rough and ready
but that's not entirely a disadvantage
because you see, the rougher and readier the translation
the more likely it is to be better contextualized
to use imagery and thought patterns
that are also local, so that not just the words
but also the thought has become local
this is deep translation, even though it's rough and ready
Distribution is also not a problem you see
the primary means of distribution would be the mobile phone
as you're well aware mobile phones
are coming close to being ubiquitous they are found
in all sorts of places where you would never have expected such high-tech
and they are familiar
people all around the world are used to using mobile phones
and with AMR compression
a mobile phone could hold a huge amount of voice files
of audiobooks
there are some places where mobile phones aren't available, where they aren't
we can provide mp3 players as a cheap
alternative for where mobile phones have not reached
because mp3 players are cheap as chips
down to about five or ten US dollars
if you buy them in bulk
so in summary this is an Idea
for vernacular mother-tongue resources for the local church
it's low cost, relatively speaking, it'd be about $400
for the equipment (US$) for
a church district for a language group
that's mainly\the cost to the laptop with a bit allowed for MP3 players
if they are needed, it's appropriate technology because
the equipment is already rugged you may not think of laptops as rugged but
think of the "one laptop per child" project, those laptops are designed
rugged and they are cheap, and mp3 players and mobile phones are already rugged
this project is hourly localized, it's local people
producing resources for local people. It's thought pattens and
words and languages of local people used to teach each other
and high-impact resourcing
low-cost, high-impact, and dead simple
Now, of course
I hope you're thinking about what I've been saying and I hope you're thinking
about problems
and I hope if you do think of problems you will email me
get in contact, but I reckon
what problems there are are surmountable and some of the problems you might be surprised to
find turn out to be advantages ;)
tim @ carey dot AC dot NZ
"carey" shouldn't be hard to remember now should it? God bless