What is your consulting philosophy? I go into every checking session expecting to learn something, and I’m never disappointed. I acknowledge that I still have a lot to learn.

What translation resources do you really value? I can’t imagine looking into a translation issue without seeing how the Good News Translation renders the verse and what Translator’s Notes says about it. What was it like to translate the Bible a hundred years ago without such resources?

How do you continue to grow as a consultant? Being part of the staff of TCDW (Translation Consultant Development Workshop) allows me to listen to other trainers make presentations about consulting. I learn from those colleagues who know more than I do about lots of things.

Can you share about a time when you realized you were wrong and what you learned from it? I was checking the translation of an Asian Translation Advisor who was a former student of mine. She is really brilliant, and I’m not just saying that because she’ll probably read this. Anyway, I pointed out a “mistake” I thought she and the team made, and she changed the translation accordingly, and we moved on. About an hour later, we came to a similar issue, and all of a sudden, I realized that I was wrong about the earlier “problem” that they corrected. I immediately apologized for MY mistake, and then I asked her if she realized I was wrong. She said yes, she knew. And I asked her why she didn’t push back and explain how I was wrong. She said that she didn’t want to make me lose face in front of the others there. What I learned from that incident, among other things, is that culture is a factor in translation checking.

What are your top tips for someone starting on a career path in Bible translation? Get involved in a translation project where you learn the language and participate in every step of the translation process, including helping make the first draft, doing community testing, and having your work checked by a consultant.

Share something that you learned from a mentor or from a mentee? One of my mentors was a legendary SIL translator in the Philippines where I worked for six years. His example and encouragement to really learn the receptor language guided me, not only in the project in the Philippines, but in the other two projects I was part of in the Solomon Islands.

What do you see as the place of the church in Bible translation? It’s obviously very important. I worked very closely with the local churches in all three of the projects I was part of. I lived with a priest in the Philippines. And Margie and I had pastors, priests, and even a bishop for dinner at our house all the time in the Solomon Islands.

What would you say to young/aspiring translators? I can’t think of a better way to spend your life.