Wycliffe Bible Translators acquired recently satellite technology that cuts translation time to less than one-third, produces more accurate translations of better quality, and functions even in remote areas that don’t have electricity.

Wycliffe is using a Broadband Global Area Network satellite terminal, a small device of metal and plastic, which works more efficiently than a home internet connection and can access the internet when attached to a computer, even in remote areas.

Wycliffe teams that don’t have computers will be given a complete kit, which includes a BGAN, netbook, solar panel, battery and charge controller, Bob Creson, Wycliffe USA President and CEO, wrote on the organization’s website.

Translation process in Nigeria

An example of the efficiency of BGAN is illustrated by the experience of Jacob, a translator for the Mwaghavul people in Nigeria, Creson said on Wycliffe’s website.

Before BGAN, Jacob had to haul his laptop on his motorcycle every week to go to his brother’s house nine miles away, where he hoped that he could get a strong enough signal to send the week’s work by email to his translation consultant.

If Jacob was lucky to get a strong signal, he would then travel back to the translation office nine miles away. The following week, he would expect to have feedback from his consultant—but to get it, he had to travel back to his brother’s house again, Creson said.

But now with BGAN, Jacob can send email straight from his office desk and get feedback from his consultant on the following day, at the latest. Creson wrote, “The rapid feedback will allow him to improve his translation and quickly move on to the next passage.”

BGAN connects through a geostationary satellite that is only 8 inches by 10 inches in size, and is powered either with a small gasoline generator or with batteries that can be charged with solar panels.

Bruce Smith of Wycliffe Associates told CNN, “This is a satellite system. You point up at the satellite and it works better than your Internet connection at home.”

For years, BGAN devices have been used by television networks, governments and private corporations. Now Wycliffe is distributing BGAN devices and kits to its linguists and translators across the world.

So far, 67 Wycliffe teams have BGAN, and they plan to give kits to 25 more teams.

Indigenous dialects, level playing field

One Wycliffe staff member, whose first language is Tzutujil, a Guatemalan Mayan indigenous dialect, helped translate the Bible into his native tongue.

“When an indigenous person hears the message in their language, they understand that God loves them. It raises our self-esteem [to know] He loves us all the same,” the staff member told CNN.

Another Wycliffe translator, Burchrum Gail, speaks Jamaican Creole, or Patwa as his first language. He told CNN that in Jamaica the Bible has negative associations, but to hear it in one’s own language gives a feeling that the playing field has been leveled.

Gail told CNN, “It validates me as a person. It also makes the scripture resonate more with me.”

There are some 6,900 languages in the world, and Wycliffe has over 2,000 more languages to go.

In the past Wycliffe hoped that within 150 years, the Bible would be translated in every language on earth. But now, with BGAN, they think this will happen by 2038.

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A Christian organization that hopes to translate the bible in all languages of the world by 2025 has launched recently two new bible translation projects in countries where reading the bible is not allowed.

Wycliffe Associates’ CEO Bruce Smith said that the newest effort by the organization is going to be the most difficult one they have faced so far, according to BosNewsLife.

Smith told BosNewsLife this newest endeavor is the most “difficult in Wycliffe Associates’ history. The Gospel cannot be openly preached in these countries and the Bible can’t be read in public.”

Smith said at least one of the nations is a Muslim-majority country with sharia law, where Christians have been long persecuted even by their relatives and community, according to BosNewsLife.

Smith did not confirm that the nation referred to is Saudi Arabia. He did however say that caution is necessary pointing out that several home churches have been raided by the police, BosNewsLife said.

Smith said, “It’s not easy…We have to be careful. I find myself continually pleading with God for guidance in our efforts, and for protection for Bible translators, trainers, their families, and their support teams,” BosNewsLife reported.

Smith estimated that it will take more than 10 years for either project to be completed, because work must be done in secret, making it harder to edit, much less distribute texts, BosNewsLife said.

By Smith’s estimate, “It may take up to 15 years before the Bible becomes available in the native language,” according to  BosNewsLife.

The environment is also fraught with danger, Smith said, noting that recently a Wycliffe staff member died in a bombing attack, while another missionary from The Seed Company disappeared, BosNewsLife said.

Bible translators often go to hard-to-reach areas that are remote and unstable, because these are places where there is no availability of a bible in their language, BosNewsLife said.

Translation kits

A positive development is the provision of Translation Acceleration Kits which will make things safer for Wycliffe workers and volunteers. The kit includes a portable netbook computer, solar panel, battery, power supply and satellite communication terminal, according to the Wycliffe website.

Smith said the technology will be particularly helpful in dangerous regions. “I believe this new technology is a must—especially in places where terrain, violence, or civil unrest hinders translation efforts,” he said on the website.

With these kits, Wycliffe Associates has targeted 300 locations in the world that can make use of the kits, and relieve national translators of the need to travel to dangerous places or rough, uncharted terrain, the website said.

The kits will have a strong impact on the safety of many workers, particularly in Nigeria, where 24 national translation teams were given kits in remote areas to serve some 4.3 million people, the website said.

Smith told BosNewsLife, “The satellite modems that we’re using in many of these locations connect to a satellite constellation that those governments don’t control. Those satellites are up there all day, every day, and if you have an antenna that can transmit to and from those satellites, there’s really no way for the government to stop that from happening.”

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Wycliffe Associates noted recently that there is not one complete Bible for the deaf community anywhere in the world.  In fact, out of hundreds of deaf languages globally, it is only the American deaf language that has a complete New Testament, Mission News Network (MNN) reported recently.

Wycliffe engages in translating the Bible into all global languages.  So far 6,848 spoken languages exist globally, and 2,393 still need Bible translations.  This is aside from their latest endeavor for the deaf, 2TheAdvocate said.

Elizabeth Parks, who with her husband Jason are sign language survey coordinators for Wycliffe said, “There are more than 400 distinct sign languages, and they develop separately from the spoken languages around them,” 2TheAdvocate reported.

Parks noted that sign languages have totally different grammar and concepts from the spoken and written language of a country.  She noted, “They are actually dreaming in sign language,” hence, sign is their true language of communication, 2TheAdvocate reported. 

Bruce Smith of Wycliffe said that one cannot presume that because the deaf can see, that they can read subtitles, say, from a television program.  American Sign Language has true distinctions.  Wycliffe wants to do video translations for the various sign languages around the world, MNN reported. 

Wycliffe is working with Deaf OpportunityOutReach (DOOR) International for this project.   Smith said the illiteracy rate is higher among the deaf, especially those from poorer countries.  He estimates the project may take 10 years, MNN reported.

Parks, who has travelled extensively as a missionary, said in some countries the deaf are regularly mistreated, hidden away or beaten.  Parents are ashamed and don’t allow them to leave home, and some serve as slave labor.  Parks expressed hope that part of their work will help these countries to have a better understanding of their deaf family members.

Aside from DVDs Wycliffe and DOOR International hope to try other electronic media as technology develops, such as 3-D animation depending on cost, ease of use, and ability of the animation to portray natural-looking sign language.

Currently, Wycliffe and DOOR are working on completing DOOR’s international headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya; as well as beginning a specific translation project in San Jose, Costa Rica and eventually throughout Latin America.

Wycliffe is also asking for volunteers who have technical and life skills to do work such as constructing roads to get to remote areas, office work or renovate facilities.  In this way, the translators can truly focus on simply translating each language.

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