God speaks Manjui

So maybe translating God’s Word isn’t so difficult after all.

A few months ago Gordie Hunt shared some of the obstacles he was facing in translating 2 Corinthians into the language of the Manjui people of Paraguay. Read the story.

But as Gordie worked through some passages with his Manjui co-workers, he found that the answers were not as difficult as he had anticipated. Gordie had expected it to difficult to get across what Paul meant in 2 Corinthians 1:3-6 when he refers to God as “the God of all comfort.”

“When we worked this through … we found that they were already using a one-word expression that covers this part of God's nature very well,” Gordie wrote.

Sesa, the Manjui man who is Gordie’s primary co-worker on translation, said, “We would say God is a tika'peiliski.”

“This word would be used for someone one who habitually feels mercy for others and pities them greatly and helps them,” Gordie wrote. “He said that this describes God very well. So here within the small group of Manjui believers, we know that they will really understand this part of God's character when they read 2 Corinthians.  Isn't it great that God also speaks Manjui?”

Another passage where Gordie had expected problems was 2 Corinthians 2:14-16, when Paul likens the message of Christ to a fragrance.

“We weren’t sure if we could use this figure of speech at all, since the Manjuis don't use perfume,” Gordie wrote. “But we found that the illustration of a good odor wafting out wasn't a foreign idea at all. What would possibly come up in their imagination was the odor of cooking meat or the smell of flowers blooming, rather than perfume, but that is OK.”

Sesa said, “This is really a good illustration of what God's message does.”

Gordie also anticipated problems translating 2 Corinthians 4:6-7 because of all the picture words Paul uses. “In verse 6 Paul said that the glory and power of God and the message about Christ are a wonderful light that God has caused to shine in our hearts,” Gordie wrote.

Sesa suggested words similar to “God turning on a light inside of us.”

Verse 7 portrays what God has done for us as a wonderful treasure inside clay pots. The translation that came very naturally would translate back to English as, “All that God has caused us to know is like something very good, expensive, and valuable  … but we are just weak people who are like containers made of dirt with this wonderful thing inside of us.”

The translation of 2 Corinthians still needs to be checked to ensure that it accurately and clearly conveys everything in the book – and nothing more – but this is good progress.

“Please continue to pray for us as we will now be working through content and comprehension checking of this difficult book in the next couple of months,” Gordie wrote.