Tag: featured

‘A day in the life of a translator’ with our friend and colleague Jim Courter.

Jim working away at the Serbian and Portuguese translations of the Bible1. What is your name and where do you come from?
Jim Courter from, among other places in the USA, Las Cruces, New Mexico.

2. Can you tell us how you ended up becoming a Bible translator? Tell us a bit about that journey.

While attending New Mexico State University, in 1974 I heard about a Wycliffe Banquet downtown. A representative from Wycliffe was recruiting Bible translators and the presentation convinced me that my life should head in that direction. I asked the speaker what I should be studying at the university and he suggested Anthropology with focus on linguistics. I changed my major from Geology to Anthropology after 5 semesters at the school. I had been taking Russian and Spanish until then, but added German as well. I started learning New Testament Greek on my own. In the summer of 1975 I went to the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) school in Oklahoma. After a few years of being involved in other things, particularly smuggling Christian literature into Communist Countries while living in Austria, I got an M.A. degree in Bible translation at the SIL center in Dallas in 1983. I was a member of Wycliffe in Austria until 1987, and in 1988 I was recruited to work for Living Bibles International. There was a merger with IBS in 1991 which is why I am now with Biblica.

3. What does your typical working day look like?

My main work is checking new translations and revisions verse by verse by comparing with the original–language biblical texts. Quite often I have to consult any one of a number of translators’ aides available, such as Translator’s Workplace, dictionaries, biblical terms lists, parallel passage checks, commentaries, etc., in order to assure accuracy and consistency throughout the text. There is a large percentage of verses where the exact interpretation is in question, so much thought has to go into those kinds of passages.

4. Which translation projects are you working on for Biblica Europe?

Serbian OT translation along with a revision of the NT, the Portuguese full Bible revision, NIV Study Bible translations into Romanian and Russian.

5. Is it true that a translator’s job is never done?This is very true. The more I learn about the original languages, the structure of the way the biblical text was put together, historical and geographical information, etc., there is always room for improvement. There is an ongoing need for careful harmonisation of key terms, parallel passages and key phrases that were meant to be noticed by careful readers of the Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek texts. These kinds of harmonisations are part of the meaning of the biblical text, so cannot be overlooked. Sometimes this work is not straightforward because word–for–word correspondence is not always possible. Languages work very differently in the way they divide up reality. Accurately transmitting the meaning of a passage in the most clear way in the translation is an elusive goal that a translator does not ever completely feel has been fully accomplished.

6. Why is it important for Biblica to focus on Bible Translation?

There are in many cases already translations available in the languages where we are working, but they are not adequate. Often the language is outdated, the translation was done from some other languages besides Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek or the language is stilted rather than natural. The tools we have now, such as Paratext and others mentioned above guarantee much better quality because of the easily–accessible wide range of exegetical helps, computerised means of checking, formatting, analysing, harmonising, etc.

7. Is there anything that we can do as Christians to profile the work of Bible translation better?

I will quote Scott Munger here: Bible translators are;
• Farmers, making “food” for the world
• Journalists, giving access to vital information
• Revolutionaries, overthrowing falsehoods
• Church planters, laying a foundation for the Church
• Entertainers, telling the greatest story ever told
• Soldiers, protecting the defenseless and invading Satan’s terrirtory
• Economists, helping people manage life’s real resources
• Transporters, moving people from one kingdom to another

Martin Luther confessed: “I have also undertaken to translate the Bible into German. That was necessary for me; otherwise I might have died someday imagining that I was a learned man. Those who think themselves scholars should try to do this work.”

8. What is your favourite Bible verse and why?
Proverbs 4:18: The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.” This verse presents our path in life out of the darkness of night to where the sunshine begins faintly lighting up the eastern horizon and finally rises and we see the full light of day. This is the story of all of us, and now that we as believers have the light, we should walk in that light with our eyes opened through study of the Word of God and living in fellowship with him who is the Light of the world.

A big thank you to Jim for letting us interview him. May God bless him and the wider translation team as they aim to translate and update the Bible so that the Word of God can be accessed across Europe in many languages.

Biblica and the Naval Military and Air Force Bible Society have been partnering with us for many years, producing NIV Bibles and New Testaments for their mission to supply Bibles to the uniformed services.

Thousands of copies of military and seafarers NIV Bibles have been printed and sent to NMAFBS for distribution. It has been a pleasure for Biblica to work with an organisation that seeks to make the Word of God accessible for those who serve our Country.

Some images below capture the importance of NMAFBS’s work. We look forward to keeping you updated in how these Bibles have been used.

Biblica are delighted to be able to partner with churches and ministries across Europe. Recently we partnered with Hillsong Church in Stockholm, helping them to custom their own Swedish Bible called ‘I have decided’ for their outreach work.

In the last two years the church have given away 4,000 bibles to people who are new to their faith or don’t have a bible. David Rindefors who is part of the church leadership team tells us his story:

“I have been part of the team in Hillsong Stockholm since 2012. To be part of giving a Bible to someone who has just decided to follow and build a relationship with Jesus is something that never ceases to be incredibly special. I can think of multiple occasions when the Bible has been given out as a gift and it has enabled people to progress in their faith, opened up new revelation and brought light and life in hopeless situations.”

Here are just a few stories that David has shared with us:

• A girl, not raised in a Christian family, came to church with her friend one Sunday. She raised her hand during the invitation to salvation. She was given a Bible and she decided to start reading.
• One girl in David’s fellowship group shared about her journey to the church. She had her Bible, the one she received the first time she went to church and made her decision, about a year ago. Written at the beginning of her Bible is the date she made her decision, which will always serve as a reminder to her.
• A girl in David’s prayer group has struggled to read the Bible since she became a Christian four years ago, but it wasn’t until she started reading the ‘I have decided’ bible that it really fell into place. She has now read the entire New Testament and has grown enormously in her faith.

Biblica partnered with New Generation in Sweden to produce a new edition of a Swedish New Testament which has been given out across schools in Sweden.

The New Testament contains 64 colour pages to help the reader understand what the Bible is all about and explains, among other things, what Christians believe and who Jesus is.

Christian school groups in Sweden distributed the Bibles at celebrations or to a friend over a coffee. The work continues across Sweden and it is amazing to hear some of the good news stories:

Ebba Rose, Tenhult

On the 17th of December 2015 Ebba wrote a note and put it in a Bible and left it in the common room at her school. She wanted to inspire people to take it up and read it and also hoped that someone would take it home. On the note she wrote a suggestion for the reader to find anything they wanted (a song, a film etc) that would fit what they were reading. Ebba comments, “I wanted to try and involve the Word in everyday life.” On the 3rd February someone had taken the Bible home!

One school in Sweden

Over the Christmas period one school wrapped these bibles up and stuck personal notes in them to each student. Over 18 people came to Christ in just one school!

Anton Fust, Linköping

Anton and his New Generation group of 14 people ordered 30 Bibles. They took the Bibles and handed them out personally to people as Christmas presents in 2015. Anton himself gave Bibles to three people, he wrapped them and wrote little cards. These presents have since become great starting points for conversations about faith.

Hillevi Herrmann, Uppsala

Hillevi bought Bibles and has started handing them out to people. Some of them she has given to people in her school but she has also given them to some people she met in town. She gave one to a bus driver which led to a long conversation about faith! It turns out he had a Christian neighbour that had led him to the Lord but as he said “he didn’t live actively with Jesus now”. Hillevi giving him a Bible out of the blue felt important to him and he said that he needs to come back to Jesus. He contacted Hillevi after this incident and thanked her again for giving him the Bible.

The World Police and Fire Games were hosted in Northern Ireland in the summer of 2013. 7,500 athletes from all over the world gathered to compete in the games which is often referred to as the third largest sporting event in the world (after the Olympics and Football World Cup).

Christian police officers and firefighters from Northern Ireland met before the games to discuss the best way to communicate with so many of their colleagues. They decided that producing a Gospel of John unique to the games would be a great way of marking the event.

After much prayer, they partnered with Biblica to produce their own customised Gospel of John to give out at the event to competitors. The event organisers agreed that each and every competitor would receive their own personal copy, neatly packed with their joining instructions and registration material. Volunteers from a local youth offenders detention centre set about packing the 7,500 Gospels on their behalf and, as a result, competitors received a copy and took them home as far as Europe, China and South America.

Those involved were delighted that the Word of God was so easily placed into the hands of so many and trust the Lord will use these Gospels to His glory in the months and years to come.