By Janet (To protect the identity of this worker, we use a fictitious name).
"What does it mean in your culture when you shake your head?" I type while checking a translation of Psalm 22. The translation I am checking is spoken in western India. In the software we use, we can easily add comments to a translation. When we are done, we send that to 'the cloud' and then the translation team can see it and reply. We do this in preparation for a Zoom session where we discuss the translation together. This way, I learn more about the translation and we can pick out the errors that are easy to spot. During the Zoom session, we discuss the text and how the team has translated it in more detail, and then we may make further adjustments, so that it is a better translation of Hebrew and easier to understand.
What does it mean in your culture ... This question reminds me of why I wanted to become a Bible translator as a child. My reason was: I love languages and cultures. It's true that on an average working day I deal with about 5 languages and that to make a good translation, you need to understand as much of the culture as possible. But some things I had imagined differently. I had thought I would be toiling away with a translation team somewhere in a small village far away, but the teams I work with live thousands of kilometres away from me. I have never met them in person. I only know their faces from the computer screen. It makes my work quite lonely. Most of my work is behind a computer screen. It is a risk for me and for the team if I were to visit there, because it arouses suspicion from the authorities when a foreigner visits.
'What does it mean in your culture when you shake your head?' To find out how something is really understood, we need to understand the culture and the people as much as possible. This requires real contact. I therefore try to have personal contact every time I meet people through Zoom. Then I talk about how I and my family are doing and the translators tell something from their personal lives. Also while discussing the text, I ask questions about their culture. Sometimes I also ask them what a Bible text means to them personally. This is how I try to make real contact despite the challenges.
We ourselves live in southern India. We hope to put a second floor on our house so that it will be possible to host translation teams in our house. That would be safer for me and the teams and then the work would be less lonely.
