Discourse Analysis: Isn't the Bible supposed to be true?  
 

Isn’t what the Bible says supposed to be true?  Well, how would you communicate that fact if you were a Bible translator? 

 Every people group across the globe tells stories.  It’s what we do by nature.  We tell stories to our children and grandchildren to pass time and to teach morals.  Each language group, though,  has a different way of telling stories.  My Discourse Analysis course is teaching me to examine these different kinds of features. 

In English, what comes to our minds if we hear the four words, “Once upon a time….”?  We think this is a story, don’t we?  And I bet you think it is likely a *children’s* story, too.  Am I right?  You see, this is one way that our own language says whether a story is true, or not.  The “once upon a time” formula leads into a fairy-tale or other fiction work.

Such features occur in other languages, too.  Rudy Barlaan was translating the book of John into Isnag (a language in the Philippines).  He gave it to his associate to go check it in the village (i.e., read it to the people in the village and then ask them questions to see if they understand it).  This person said when he returned, “It is very good, but…is it not a TRUE story?  It sounds like fiction.” 

“Why?”  Rudy asked.  The associate wasn’t sure why–he couldn’t explain it–and he didn’t know how to fix it.  Panic gripped Rudy, and he thought he had better stop and take the time to study how Isnag expressed fact vs fiction in narratives.

Rudy found that several key structural features and some tiny words were different in factual accounts than in folk tales.  He then wrote up these discoveries which were published in the Journal of Philippine Linguistics.

Not only did this help with the Isnag translation, but also with other Philippine language translations.  One other team who were just about to print their New Testament heard about Rudy’s discovery.  They thought they’d better check this out.  To their horror, they also found that they had failed to make this distinction and in order to make it understood as fact, instead of fiction, had to go back and revise the entire New Testament!

Wow!  Truly, the task of Bible translation is very complex and will not be accomplished alone by any individual.  But it will be accomplished by God’s grace and the prayers of His people.  Please pray for translators all over the world, that they might understand how the language they are studying tells stories.  Then, they in turn can tell the Greatest Story ever told—the true story of Jesus coming to earth to die for man’s sin so that all who come to Him might be saved.

God bless you,

 ~Alison

February 21, 2005