Rarin' to go
by Niffer Davey
If you’d said to me three years that ago that I would be involved in learning an unwritten language, producing its alphabet and writing technical reports on its sounds and grammar, I’d have called you crazy. “Me?! But I’m not even sure what linguistics is, and I’ve never thought about the sounds in the English language – I just talk!”
Yet, unbelievably, it’s all true – thanks in large measure to the training courses I took here in the Wycliffe Centre prior to spending 18 months in Nigeria, working with a remote people group called the Hungwere. As a theology graduate I was pretty nervous about adapting to the more scientific approach of language analysis, especially given the number of mathematicians and linguistics graduates floating around.
To be honest, getting my head round the totally new concepts and complexities involved in analysing sound systems took some gritting of the teeth and resolving to persevere no matter how baffled I felt. Fortunately, things soon began to fall into place, my understanding of how we communicate expanded, and I began to get very excited about the work I was being prepared to do.
I took my first two courses in the autumn immediately before leaving for Africa: a month of LACA (Language and Culture Acquisition), and three months of ART (Assignment Related Training). This ‘just-in-time’ training equipped me with all the fundamental tools I needed to analyse a language and propose an alphabet, and enabled me to move straight into putting my training into practice in a real-life language situation. I’m still amazed that I was equipped in such a short space of time to get involved and do something that will make a difference for the Hungwere people. Its fantastic!
ETP (the European Training Programme) runs courses in the UK, France and Germany, catering for various roles and levels of training—Literacy, Hebrew, Computing and many others. Some last a few weeks, others a number of months. Typically, they consist of a mixture of lectures, reading time, group work and projects. Learning alongside others from very different situations worldwide adds much fun to discussions. All learning styles are encouraged. The staff take a genuine interest in each individual, and share not only their expertise but also their personal experiences.
Since 1953, over 6,000 people from all nations have been trained in the UK to help hundreds of language groups around the world to understand God’s message of love. ETP, based at the Wycliffe Centre near Oxford, is the largest training programme for Bible translation and literacy in the UK. People trained here are now mentoring and training translators and literacy workers overseas, from grassroots level to PhD level.
One of the most encouraging aspects of the training, for me, is the fusion of the academic and the spiritual. A dichotomy in this area has persisted since the twelfth century, distancing the driven pursuit of academic truth and excellence from a life devoted to God. Bible translation avidly pursues both goals, merging cutting-edge theology and linguistics with dependence on the living power of God to speak through his revealed word. Textual analysis, for example, enables us to understand the message of Scripture. What could be more exciting than understanding what God is saying through his word?
I’ve found the courses so helpful that I’ve come back for more! I’m taking courses on Meaning and Communication and on Translation, so that when I return to Nigeria this autumn I’ll be equipped to engage in the actual work of helping to translate God’s words into Hungwere.
Just recently I received a letter from Nigeria—the first of many more that will probably be written in Hungwere—bringing love and greetings from friends far away. That letter, and the promise of improved communication and education that it brings, were made possible by an ETP course lasting only three months!
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