SOMETIME in 2007, I received invitations from two translation teams. That was three years after my compilation of an English-Tagalog-Cebuano Dictionary was published and circulated in installer CD and book editions.
One of the invitations came from Wycliffe Bible Translators for the project "Sa Bawat Wika 2025" in the Philippines to translate the New Testament into Kamayo-Mandaya.
The target dialect is not new to me being soused with the native speakers for quite some time although my roots came from Samar-Leyte. In our meeting with the local coordinator for the project, I was told that the translation would be based from the English Bible with preference to NIV which is much simplified.
Much to my desire to join the team, but I don't want to be biased with my work according to my religious affiliation, so I requested to undergo a crash course in Greek, the original manuscript of the New Testament somehow the output is impartial, but to no avail. So I did not take the invitation seriously.
The other invitation was from the New Life Mission to translate their mission books from English into Cebuano. I joined the team of international translators in lesser guilt because my job is to translate ordinary books (not the holy Bible), combining the one to one correspondence (verbatim) and the dynamic equivalence translation methods, the Cebuano edition of their 20 books I have translated are now available, free at bjnewlife.org.
I brought this experience to emphasize that translation of the Bible is not an ordinary task. Translators should anticipate that using inappropriate words will deviate its meaning that often trigger disagreements among readers, and defeats the purpose of reading.
Recently, the New Testament Pinoy version received flaks for its conyo and informal modern lingo. Although it is widely accepted and rendered a favorable sale among the youth according to Vicky, a staff from Mindanao Christian Book Store, it does not guarantee wholesomeness.
One of its moot translations says, "Mga b**o ba talaga kayo? Nasimulan n'yo ngang maranasan ang kapangyarihan ng Holy Spirit sa buhay n'yo, tapos ngayon, aasa kayo sa sarili niyong lakas?!" (Galatians 3:3).
In my crowd sourcing, Bible scholars and renowned theology professors did not give comment about it. Although in this verse, the English word "foolish" is plainly translated into "bobo" without looking into the original manuscript "anoetoi" which means "carnal-minded" "thinking not of Spirit but of flesh."
A free-thinking comrade Atty. Cyril Lactupo Cole said, "...language evolve over time, and meaning of the words in their new representation may have lost or fortified, enhanced, or clarified, as culture and community shape as of the present, at the end of the day, it is the reader, who best can realize the deeper meaning, and significance of the words, and make his/her own interpretation, etc, if the words are literally out of bounds, as to its original root form and meaning, that is a different matter, that should be rectified...."
Even with these ambiguity in language, I still believe that Christianity is not yet desperate in its spiritual quest to offer a tasteful food for the youth, yet full of bad cholesterol.