Last week was a huge milestone in the Kovol work, the first translation check. A translation consultant visited to check Genesis 37,39,40,41,42,43,44,45, and 46:1-7. Those chapters cover the Joseph story, a total of about 200 verses of “simple” narrative, which is great material to get started on as a new translator.
The Joseph story will be part of our evangelistic Bible teaching lessons when the team present the Gospel, and it will be great reading material for Kovol readers practising their literacy skills.
The helicopter was not able to land on the day planned (Tuesday) due to the weather. However, the next day the consultant made it in. The checking process continued all day on Wednesday and up to 11am on Thursday. They went through at a pretty good speed. The consultant has his notes written up that he will send Steve with a list of little changes to make and things to have another go at. The phrase for “captain of the guard” was a total flop, so that needs redrafting and checking again. This will be the sixth time around of redoing that phrase and trying something else! The team greatly appreciates all the work the consultant has put in to help them improve the Kovol translation of the Joseph story.
Once Steve has worked through those outstanding issues, the section will be marked as consultant approved. It seems he is on the right track as a translator, but he needs to tighten up on attention to detail, making sure he gets all the details in the draft. They also discussed the skill of back-translating into English.
Next on the translation list is Genesis 1. Steve has six working weeks left before they leave for their home assignment. In that time, he plans to continue to edit and format the literacy teacher’s manual. Continuing to do exegetical drafts for the Kovol translation while in Europe, will be a great way to keep his head in the language.