3 Million Africans to Receive Native Language Christmas Story for 1st Time

By Ethan Cole, Christian Post Reporter Sunday, December 28, 2008

Corrections appended

Three million people in the highlands of the east African country of Tanzania will receive the Christmas Story in their own language for the first time by Christmas 2009, a Bible translation ministry recently announced.

Wycliffe Associates is helping to fund a program that is simultaneously translating God's Word into ten languages for the people that live in the rugged southern part of the country called Mbeya. Previously, the millions that live in the area were only able to understand the Scripture in Swahili or, even more difficult for them, in English. Although about 78 percent of the population in Mbeya is literate, they can only read Swahili at a functional level to survive in society.

The Mbeya Cluster project is an ambitious effort that combines ten language translation projects into one that will expand literacy in the languages of Bena, Bungu, Kinga, Malila, Ndali, Nyakyusa, Nyiha, Safwa, Sangu, and Wanji.

One local man who lived in a remote area 1.5 miles up in the mountains and 74.5 miles from Mbeya simply said, "This is so good," when he heard the Scripture for the first time in his own speaking language.

For years, he and his people struggled to understand the Word of God in Swahili or English.

In Mbeya, as in other parts of Tanzania, the various distinct languages have enough characteristics in common that it's possible to translate multiple languages at the same time.

In addition to allowing Mbeya people groups to read the Bible in their own languages, Bible translators also hope to help preserve these minority languages and ensure their survival amid the dominant language of Swahili.

"This has a huge and positive impact on a culture, both spiritually and intellectually," said Bruce Smith, president and CEO of Wycliffe Associates.

"When a larger and nationalized language like Swahili is bearing down on a people group with a different language and identity, that group tends to have its importance in society diminished; and subsequently, their spiritual journey stunted," he explained.

The Mbeya project will be carried out by translation teams made up of missionaries and nationals. National translators, working together with a translation advisers, are able to translate the Scripture faster because they have heard the various languages since childhood and can easily work out the nuances of the languages.

Already the project is underway in Tanzania with some 30 full-time workers and another 50 part-timers all working on the multiple translations.

Wycliffe Associate partners will help fund the entire project through the end of September 2009.

The ministry Wycliffe Associates has sent some 1,693 volunteers to serve in 35 countries as part of the worldwide Bible translation team in 2008 alone. The volunteers help build and renovate facilities, construct roads and airstrips, teach Vacation Bible School, help with language development and office work, oversee projects, use their computer skills in various ways, and serve in other ways.

Correction: Monday, January 12, 2009:

An article on Sunday, Dec. 28, 2008, about an ongoing project to translate the Scripture into the native languages of Africans living in the highlands of Tanzania incorrectly reported that the Bible is being translated for the first time into these native languages. Wycliffe Associates, the ministry helping to fund the project, clarified that only the Christmas story and not the entire Bible is being translated into these native languages. Also, the highland area of Mbeya is located in the southern part of Tanzania, not western region as previously reported.