2023-10-28 Praising God for Mark’s Gospel in 3 more Ngudradrekai Languages

On Saturday October 28, 2023, I joined around 100 people at Maolin Presbyterian Church in the mountains of southern Taiwan to praise God and celebrate the publication of Mark’s Gospel in four languages. We had anticipated and prayed for this day since we first started this unique translation project in the spring of 2019. But four years to translate one book of the Bible? A little background.

2023-10-28 Mark’s Gospel for 3 minorities within a minority

The national government in Taiwan estimates around 12,000 people belong to the Ngudradrekai (formerly Rukai) indigenous group. By the grace of God, the Bible Society in Taiwan (BSTWN) published the complete Ngudradrekai Bible in 2017. (See my blog: https://pccweb.ca/missionblog/2017/07/26/translating-is-done-reading-begins-thanking-god-for-the-ngudradrekai-bible/) After that celebration service, several ministers in the Ngudradrekai Presbytery approached me and said, “Mai Mu-shr, this wonderful new Ngudradrekai Bible uses the majority Wutai dialect. But we serve in churches and communities which speak three smaller dialects: Maolin, Wanshan and Tona. Several hundred people can still speak each of our languages. The languages are related but quite different. All are considered ‘endangered languages.’ Our three languages are ‘minorities within a minority.’ Can the Bible Society do anything to help us?”

2023-10-28 BSTWN Reps Elder Hsieh Ming-hsun (Board) and Rev Paul McLean (Translation Advisor) with Ngudradrekai Presbytery Reps

After further discussions and the fervent prayers of the local churches, the BSTWN agreed to do a trial translation of the Gospel of Mark. Since I had helped the Wutai-Ngudradrekai project, I was happy to be assigned as the Translation Advisor for this unique 3-language project. The BSTWN and I offered translation training for the three teams. Each team used Today’s Chinese Version (TCV2019) and the 2017 Wutai-Ngudradrekai version of Mark as helpful models to guide them. Each team consisted of a minister, plus elders or deacons. Most have experience teaching their own dialect in their church and in local schools.

2023-10-28 Wanshan Bible Translation Team (Rev Seehe Liang, far-rt.)

During the celebration service, in his sermon on Mark 1:35 and Genesis 28:16-17, my good friend Rev Seehe Liang (the lead Wanshan translator), used the image of “stones in the wilderness” to reflect on some of the challenges we had all faced; then like Jesus, how by prayer and trust in God we had overcome. “There were so many stones when we began to translate. How will we do it? Our teams had never translated the Bible before! How could we? Thankfully, the Bible Society provided training and support. Then Covid-19 hit! It affected our ability to meet and translate. Our TA could not visit us from Canada. But we learned how to skype with him to check our translations on a weekly basis.”

2023-10-28 Maolin Bible Translation Team

The Maolin team had to face the challenge of spelling. They have seven vowels in their language which are not always easy to distinguish. (Wanshan and Tona each have four vowels.) And like the other dialects, they were writing down spoken words for the first time. They had no standard spelling system like English readers enjoy. So they had to create standard spellings as they went along.

2023-10-28 Tona Bible Translation Team

Sadly, the lead translator of the Tona team, Rev Jiang, died before the project was completed. He had prepared a hand-written first draft of Mark. Review work was left in the hands of Tona Presbyterian Church Rev Kay (who actually speaks the Wutai dialect) and two elders. It was not always easy to decide the best way to say things in Tona.

2023-10-28 Mark’s Gospel in 4 Languages: Maolin, Wanshan, Tona and Mandarin-Chinese

Lastly, was the challenge of typesetting. The Presbytery and the Bible Society agreed to publish Mark’s Gospel in these three minority Ngudradrekai dialects (Maolin, Wanshan and Tona) plus the Mandarin-Chinese model text (TCV2019) in four parallel columns. Two columns on facing pages. Four languages in one book of the Bible! A first for the Bible Society in Taiwan! Yet we overcame this challenge too. It is fascinating to see the four languages side-by-side. So many differences stand out in every verse.

The General Secretary of the Ngudradrekai Presbytery, Rev Palri, spoke during the worship service. Starting in 2017, he said, the three churches could learn to read “my” Wutai version of the Bible. Now we Wutai speakers can learn how to read your three languages. Linguists tell us that supposedly we are all members of one Ngudradrekai language group, though some wonder if we are. We are certainly members of the one same Presbytery, so we can care and support each other by learning a little of each others’ languages.

2023-10-28 Rev Zipulhu – Maolin Bible Translation Team Leader

The Chair of the Ngudradrekai Bible Translation Committee, Rev Zipulhu (who is also the Maolin team leader), presented her 50-page report on the whole 4-year process. Deep gratitude for God’s steadfast love and faithfulness throughout. Wonderful teamwork. Historic photos with funny comic captions. The Bible Society’s help to preserve our endangered languages; the need now to teach Mark’s Gospel to promote our languages in our local communities; and God’s call to proclaim the Good News of Jesus in our mother tongues. Rev Zipulhu is already dreaming and planning to translate the whole Bible in each language! Though she estimates it might take until 2054 to complete them!

A more manageable goal is to complete the four Gospels in each language first, then continue translating the rest of the New Testament. In addition to Mark’s Gospel, draft work has already begun. Wanshan has a draft of Matthew, Luke, John and Acts 1-10; Maolin has a draft of Matt 1-15; and Tona has a draft of Matt 1-10. With eager and determined translation teams like this, surely the Bible Society and the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan will continue to provide support and encouragement. May God help us all to press on—before we get too old!