Kwame's Testimony

Kwame is from Ghana and is one of our colleagues in Bible translation. Last year, he passionately testified about how God transformed his life through Bible translation, and about how God has mightily used him over the last few years.

Teaser: The son of a witch doctor encounters God and His Word.

To view his powerful testimony, click here. It's short! Only 17:58 min long!

Active OT Consultant in Cameroon: Passed Away

This press release from Wycliffe Canada serves as an obituary. We are saddened to lose such a valuable member of the OT translation family, a friend, mentor, encourager, visionary, and coach in Cameroon. This is the first time in SIL Cameroon's 43-year history that a member has died while in active service in the country.

Wycliffe Bible Translators sadly announces the death of Karl Grebe, a Canadian linguist, translator and consultant who served the people of Cameroon, Central Africa, in Bible translation for more than 40 years. Grebe, 70, died suddenly Dec. 9 in Cameroon. The cause of death has not yet been determined. 

Born in Germany, Grebe immigrated to Canada as a young man. With his first wife, Winnie, he began working with Cameroon’s Nso language group in 1971 to develop a written form of the language. Following the publication of the Lamnso New Testament in 1990, Grebe continued to consult on the translation of the Lamnso Old Testament, as well as several other language projects, in co-operation with the Cameroon Association for Bible Translation and Literacy [CABTAL]. 

During their time in Cameroon, the couple developed a regional training centre in the city of Bamenda, where a large number of Cameroonian languages are concentrated. Grebe also served for two years as director of the Cameroon Branch of SIL, Wycliffe’s main partner for training, language research, translation and literacy. He played a key role in founding CABTAL, as well as Wycliffe Canada’s “Partners with Nationals” program—a project-funding organization now known as OneBook. 

In 2003, Winnie’s declining health forced the couple to return to Canada. Grebe continued to consult with Cameroonian translators, reviewing their drafts by email and making periodic trips to Cameroon. Following Winnie’s death from ovarian cancer in 2009, he returned to Cameroon to continue his work as a translation consultant. In 2011, Grebe married Frida Sunjoh, a Cameroonian pediatrician and longtime friend of the couple who once asked them to pray that she would find a Christian husband. 

Grebe is survived by his wife Frida, two sons, Charles Grebe and Jonathan Grebe, and their families. 

More information will be published on our website as it becomes available. To learn more about Karl and Winnie Grebe’s work in Bible translation, see the Fall 2003 issue of Word Alive magazine.

"What gives me greatest satisfaction is to see pastors and laymen teaching and preaching directly from the Scriptures in Lamnso'." - Karl Grebe

2 NT Books Checked

4 Weeks of Checking 2 Books
For the last 4 weeks, CABTAL invited a translation consultant to check the work of 2 translation teams, the Ngomba and the Ngombale.  Two weeks time were devoted to each team, which proved sufficient time to do the work. The Ngomba had checked the Gospel of John, and then the Ngombale the Gospel of Mark.

While I was able to take part in the checking of the Ngomba's John, I was not able to for the Ngombale. Nevertheless, we had the opportunity to get to know each other and discuss translation during breaks and prayer times, etc.

A few observations, of these checking sessions of John:

1. Technology Congruency
Updated and congruent technology is important to configure from the outset, between the consultant and the language team. At the outset, two different versions of Paratext were being used at first (and there are significant upgrades made in the recent version!), and this could have caused mayhem! Computer problems can wreak havoc on any translation.

2. Complete Text
Work through the text - the entire biblical text - in order, as well as the chapter headings (if present), and then the book summary at the end (if present).  I can see where spot checks simply do not cut it in this important ministry of checking the accuracy of the translation.

3. Know the Language
Request/find information on basic discourse, orthographic, grammatical and linguistic features of the language before meeting with the team. For example, how many and what kind of verb tenses are used for the future? And do they have inclusive/exclusive pronouns? How do they introduce new characters in a narrative? Etc.

4. Pace Varies
Remember that the pace of checking will vary. The first day of checking always goes slower, as the team and consultant become familiar with each other (if this is the first book/work they are checking together).  Additionally in most books, important translation decisions must be made early (e.g. John's 18 verse prologue) and that requires extra time.

5. Consistent Key Words
There are several constraints on working with key words, but one of them is that they can be translated differently in every place they surface. This gets to be quite challenging, but with the search technology on computers, this task is made easier (though not necessarily automatic!).

6. Prayer and Dependence on God
Start sessions not just with token prayer, but with earnest pleading that the Lord show up. Some consultants like to start the session with biblical meditation, which serves to orient the hearts and minds of people on the reason we are doing this linguistic work: glorifying God by enjoying Him and communing with Him over His Word.

7. Good Back Translation
Having both a good, written back translation before the consultant as well as a skilled, non-translation language group member to give a back translation on-the-spot are preferable. This helps to keep the translation honest, while also afford the consultant the opportunity to ask comprehension questions by virtue of how the back translation was given.