Skip to main content

On Partnership

It seems to me that we spend a lot of time talking about partnership, but sometimes our language betrays our true affiliation. We feel we belong to one organisation, and work in partnership with another, but can easily say things like:

'That's not our project it belongs to <organisation name>.'

Or:

'We don't have any personnel in that project, apart from a consultant who visits regularly.' (!)

If <organisation name> is a partner organisation, in what sense is it not 'our' project (in the collective sense of the word)? And if we have a consultant giving advice to that project and approving their translations for publication, how are we not involved?

Partnership is one of the Eight Conditions, albeit the last (but not the least). It is only in last place because Wayne Dye added it after the other conditions, and in a sense it holds all of them together. Without partnership our efforts are in vain.

In any case the true owners of the project are the local people, not the organisation working with them. They, the language speakers, are the only true owners of the translation project. Those of us who serve as consultants, coordinators, exegetes, and so on, are not there for prestige or material gain. We are truly there to serve. One ways of showing that service is by learning to speak that local language, rather than using a lingua franca to communicate with the team, though that isn't always possible.

So let's not talk about 'our project', 'my project' and so on, unless we are more careful in what we say.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

10 Reasons to Make Scripture Impact a Priority

This is a response to some recent posts about the importance of Bible translation in fulfilling the Great Commission. Yes, there is much truth in that, but more is needed. It really helps to have Scripture impact (or 'engagement') the top priority, the 'car' as it were, with translation the engine that sits beneath the bonnet. Not all drivers need to know all the details of the engine, but they need to be able to control the vehicle. The most important thing is to be able to get from A to B (see point 2), rather than knowing how the engine works. These are the ten reasons to make Scripture impact a priority: To help people flourish in their communities. There are all kinds of needs that need to be met for people to flourish. One is clean water. Another is good sanitation. Peace (lack of war), and freedom of religion. Access to education etc. etc. For a community to truly flourish they also need access to the Scriptures in a language (or languages) that they understand a...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Flow Chart for Bible Translation (a Relevance Theory Approach)

One of the current theories behind modern translation work is Relevance Theory. [1] Here is a flow chart that explains the process often used to produce a draft when using such an approach: *Make sure your translation committee makes the decision as to what kind of translation they want. A domesticated translation is one that submits to dominant values in the target language [2] whereas a foreignized translation is one that is happy to import foreign terms and ideas from Hebrew, Greek, or the language of wider communication such as the Greek term baptizo . The chart looks something like this: Text                                   Communicated Ideas                  Context A sower went out to sow  A farmer went out to sow grain   People scattered/threw seed etc. The text has very little information, but behind i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Asking the Right Questions in Bible Translation and Scripture Engagement Planning

If you want to get useful answers you have to ask the right questions. Do you agree? Yes, of course you do. In the Bible translation world we often ask a very narrow question when planning for the next stage of work: 'What would you like to see translated next?' Now, if you simply want to translate, and that's it, that question is fine, but what if you want to see some kind of result from your translation work? What if, for instance, you want to see transformation occur? Then a more powerful question to ask the community and positive stakeholders in the project would be: 'What kingdom goals would you like to see reached?' These kingdom goals should meet felt needs of the community - they should solve problems that are apparent to most or all in the community. See below on how those can be met. If that's too abstract, then try, 'What kinds of things, in your extended family, do you tend to worry about?' This will help establish some felt needs, from which...
7 comments
Read more