Language Disconnect: The Implications of Bible Translation upon Gospel Work in Africa
Making neighbours responsible for one another is surely a much more sustainable long-term missions’ strategy than is centralising the control of mission at a far distance? The practice of translation of the Scriptures into every minor ethnicity and sub-language has its advocates, but also its detractors. In addition to the Westernisation that might occur as a result of translation (mentioned above), a further implication certainly to such being done by visiting outsiders is that local Christians become more beholden to distant sponsors than they do to their neighbours. Neighbourly distrust and suspicion can be perpetuated, exaggerated, or even created when the actions of outsiders link (as they invariably do) finances that generate envy to their translation projects. The same projects seem to do away with the need for close cooperation between churches and Christians from bordering sub-tribes or tribes (so see also Hughes and Bennett 1998:233).
Implication Two. Theological Discourse must be in local idiom. This is a critical point that is these days frequently overlooked. Much more effort in this area would be justified. Too many missionary efforts fail to realise this and continue to support theological teaching initiatives in Africa conducted in European languages. Some of the reasons in favour of the European language orientation of theological education are very clear and very powerful. At the same time the existence of the European language theological education hegemony in Africa is a clear mark of failure. The failure, that is, of getting indigenous churches to take theological education sufficiently seriously for themselves.[12]
I have argued the need for theological discourse to be in local idiom in more detail elsewhere (Harries 2013b, Harries 2010). I do not think that I need repeat it all in detail here. Figure 5 illustrates it quite clearly – theological education in European languages (E) can have relatively little impact on what goes on on the inside of indigenous Africa (A). In brief let me explain with reference to the name of God himself: the range of impacts of a term for God such as Nyasaye in Western Kenya is little affected if theological education is in English. However ‘correct’ the formal English discourse, it can leave people with basic theological understandings that are very unlike those in the Scriptures. The Christianising of a people’s language, and therefore their culture, requires both of these to engage with and not be avoided by Christian education. Unfortunately, Christian education in English bypasses such engagements.[13]
Implication Three. Power Issues need addressing head on. Once-colonial Anglophone Africa, such as East Africa, Zambia etc, is enormously slanted towards the UK (and by extension the USA). People from the UK and USA and to a lesser extent (if they are not masters of English) the rest of Europe come to Africa like princes and kings. It is extremely difficult not to be considered to be in charge, to land at the top of the pile, to be wealthier than everyone else, etc. But the fact is that while missionaries have a material and prestige advantage, people may be following them primarily in the interest of that advantage.
Even going in to translate the Bible is introducing a gravy train. The side benefits for a local community can be endless. Instead of encouraging local communities and churches to work together and forget their differences, it can have them compete for favours by foreigners and exaggerate their differences (especially their linguistic differences) in order to ‘get’ a project and its inevitable trickle-downs. Bible translators as many other missions seem to be pre-occupied by an urge for geographical expansion and a desire to become global.[14] (For Bible translators, this is the urge to translate the Bible into ever more languages, rather than to follow through with a translation to ensure that effective discipleship occurs.) One result of this is that very few people are seeing or addressing issues at depth. The desire to be in the global arena is addictive and enticing also to African people who come up through the system. Somewhere along the line the vision for a dedicated focus on one ethnic group or one geographical area can be totally lost. Or it has become the vision only of that local pastor who is too uneducated to spread his wings. The power is in being global; blow the local peasant!
This power issue will not be overcome easily. Westerners come to Africa with all sorts of astutely thought out (from the Western point of view) technically and managerially well planned projects. They are received as power brokers. Unfortunately processes that they consider critical to their success are undervalued, if they are even recognised in the first place, in the local scramble for fingers in the pie.
Category: In Depth, Winter 2016
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