JG - Patois, Bible and translation

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Gleaner

Patois, Bible and translation

published: Sunday June 22, 2008 R. Anthony Lewis, Contributor

The perennial 'patois' debate is on again, triggered this time by a Jamaica Observer news report on June 16, of a $60 million project to translate the Bible into the Jamaican vernacular. As one of the few who have studied and written on translation and creolisation, with an emphasis on Jamaican Creole, I feel impelled to enter this debate.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"One of the consequences of translation on a language is its standardisation.

Because of the history of European Christian colonisation of much of the world, this process has been achieved primarily through biblical texts.

Notwithstanding the necessary and apropos post-colonial critique of the evangelising-cum-civilising mission of colonial Christianity, in many developing countries, particularly in Africa, Bible translation has played a significant role in transforming hitherto unwritten languages into tools of literacy and education."

&

"One spinoff of this missionary activity was the strengthening of local languages.

Because of the variety of text types present in the Bible - from poetry and song to wisdom sayings and dream narratives - its translation into any language provided a point of reference for language use in a variety of text contexts.

These and the wide range of vocabulary necessary for translation stretched the language, forcing it to convey a wider range of ideas and concepts.

This link between translation and language standardisation has a long history.

One has only to look at the work of the Reformation translators, particularly that of Martin Luther, chief reformer and, according to Daniel Baggioni, 'language maker'.

Luther's work was an essential departure point in a Europe-wide quest to break free from the stranglehold of Catholic Latin over people whose first languages were vernaculars akin to our Creole."