What gets you excited when you work with others in Bible translation? Seeing God's Word come alive and be life transforming when people suddenly understand it for the first time. It is amazing when people start sharing what God is teaching them through the newly translated Scriptures. I see those Scriptures pierce deep inside to whatever issue that person is struggling with or is in need of encouragement about.

What is your consulting philosophy? I guess I would say, I am not really interested in helping people produce translations in their languages that are just as hard for them to understand as the national language that they already have. In these cases, they seem to either just keep using the national language translation or use a related language translation they can understand that is well done and clear. The extent to which a translation needs to be literal or dynamic for adequate understanding can be very language specific. People from a language group that have a lot of biblical knowledge due to years or generations of teaching can use a Bible that is quite a bit more literal, but the other is also true. For some languages the Bible needs to be translated a lot more dynamically in order for the people to understand very much at all. They also cannot look anything up in commentaries because these don't exist in their language. To determine the style of translation that will best help them I tend to rely a lot on good comprehension checks, even at the consultant desk. These comprehension checks really help to determine exactly what style that people group really need along the literal-dynamic continuum. (Of course, it also depends on what the determined target audience is within that language group because that will make a big difference as well.) 

What translation resources do you really value? To tell you the truth I tend to use just about everything that is made available to me, and especially those resources that ask and answer the kind of questions that a Bible translator or consultant needs to ask. I use Paratext, Logos, Translator's Workplace and all their materials which are especially geared for Translators and whatever is available on them. The UBS Translator's Handbook (TH) is good because it has been available for a long time and addresses every book of the Old and New Testament, especially dealing with translation type issues. The Translator's Notes (TN) Series is especially good for MTTs who can use simple English and explanations to help them translate the Scriptures into their own language. It is helpful for new consultants just learning, and especially MTTs learning to be consultants. However, these are not enough, by themselves, to deal with every issue that can arise due to the complexities of languages and cultures.

Many times the choice of a word, phrase, or connection etc. cannot be done without further research. If TH or TN haven't answered the question, I might need to look at a commentary that talks more about background information regarding Hebrew culture or where one city is in contrast to another, whether a person is heading uphill, toward the sea etc. Sometimes one has complex exegetical issues or textual issues that require a translator to look at commentaries that deal with those in more detail. The Exegetical Summary commentary helps one get a quick birds-eye view of many issues all at once, such as textual, lexical, exegetical choices, and specific questions a translator might need to ask.  The Semantic Structure Analysis series is very helpful for when a language has to restructure and reorder clauses or sentences and yet one still needs to keep the temporal and logical connections accurate, so that although the structure changes, the logic of the argument does not. This is especially helpful for difficult Epistle material. There are lots of other more broader commentaries like Word Biblical Commentary etc.  In short, the specific challenges a given language has may require one to look at a number of different resources in order to render as accurately as possible.

How do you share your translation discoveries with others? I often present at Bible Translation conferences, as well as other translation meetings. I also teach at the TCDW and the teaching videos I have developed for that have been shared with both individuals and other schools or platforms where more formal training occurs. I also often share personally, either by answering emails or sending resources, as well as, sharing face-to-face when I check for people on their own Bible translations or when I mentor a consultant-in-training.

Can you share about a time when you realized you were wrong and what you learned from it? When I first started consulting, I would see something that I thought was a problem in the team's back translation and ask them to change it. I would give them an example of how I thought it should be and I could be a bit rigid about my suggested change. I would do that over email or Paratext, before the face-to-face check. When we did the face-to-face check, I found that my wonderful suggestions didn't always work. From the answers of the comprehension checkers (UNS) at the face-to-face check, it was clear that my suggested change couldn't be understood. (This is one of the reasons why now, even at consultant checks, I rely very much on the answers of the comprehension checkers (UNSes)). I realized that when we check as consultants we tend to think in Greek/Hebrew/English or even the national language of the country and by how the grammars of those languages work. We do this even when we are not aware of it. So, I try to make sure I am always listening carefully to UNSes and MTTs. Of course, this has to be a continual give-and-take, because, although people understand their own language well, in difficult passages (for which there are many) they frequently don't know what the source text means. They often need help in order to accurately reflect the original (source) language/text in their own (target) language translations. 

What are your top tips for someone starting on a career path in Bible translation Seek to do good work, even if it takes time and effort. Honor God with work well done. Persevere, be patient and fully depend on God.

Share something that you learned from a mentor or from a mentee? The consultant that taught me the most, also taught me the importance of work well done and at the same time encouraged me to keep on keeping on even when I was discouraged. Her passion for people to have God's Word was contagious. One of my most impactful memories was when she was the consultant checking for the translation team for which I was the facilitator. She received a letter or email during our break time. In that letter it said that someone she knew, either because of health issues or the death of a relative, was no longer able to continue on with the translation of the Bible in a particular language. Tears fell from her eyes as she cried for the people from that language group--how long now would they have to wait? 

What do you see as the place of the church in Bible translation? The church needs to be supporting Bible translation in every way they can, regularly and sacrificially, through prayer, giving, sending, encouraging etc. However, God gives different people different gifts, some are for preaching, teaching etc. but the ability to do Bible translation is often a different gift than either preaching or teaching. People need to fill in according to the gifts that God gives them. People with different gifts work together to accomplish the task of Bible translation, and all are needed, serving according to giftedness, working together even across language, cultural and race differences.

What would you say to young/aspiring translators? The same as I said above for a closely related question. But I would also add to hold onto God's promise that His Word will accomplish whatever He has for it to accomplish, and that promise holds true even when we cannot see that happening. Also, they should seek to be continual learners. That can be done in a lot of ways like through more schooling, or even learning online, going to BT conferences and workshops. Learn from others who have lots of experience and do good work. If there is something tried and true and proven through experience, don't just automatically throw it out for something new. See how you can get the best of both old and new and apply them. Don't get stuck in your ways or avoid trying something, especially if it is tried and proven true. Don't avoid it because you think it will take too much work.