The MCNL had sought volunteers who are all seasoned translators in their own right, whowere willing to commit to this important project and they included Andrea Webb, Sarah Townley, Sophie Tuglavina, Hilda Lyall, and Amos Onalik.
Presently the spell checking and correcting of all the New Testament is completed, and there are now 8 books that still need to be completed and they are: Joshua, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Psalms, Song of Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Zechariah.
Once completed, hopefully by the end of May, pre-publishing can be done this summer and typesetting can begin in August, and printing in October.
The translators received training in March of 2007 in the use of a program called Paratext. The Canadian Bible Society uses Paratext for all their translation projects. Another program called Keyman allows the translators to type the unique symbols in Inuttitut, for example the symbol for the long vowel sound or the small K.
The translators are using the new spelling system that was developed by the Torngasok Cultural Centre. With these great tools, they are translating a children's reading series called"Walking with Jesus". Using the Good News Translation and the current Inuktitut Bible as helps, this translation will be easier to read and understand.
The original Inuktitut Bible was translated by German Missionaries and they had translated that Bible from the Martin Luther Version. The MLV is difficult to read and understand even in English, so this new translation will be more helpful, understanding, and easier to read.
Pray the translators will continue on in their great and awesom task. They have been patient, understanding, and are able to work together. May we continue on in this great purpose, for all to know God's Word.
Sr Sabina Hunter
Fine to see, that people use their own languege - in Greenland, the Moravian teatcher and missionary Samuel Kleinschmidt in 1870 found a way to use the Inuit language also as a written one.
ReplyDeleteThis way was used until the late eighties, when a new way of spelling was introduced by the Greenlandic Parliament