Translation Complete!

There’s a feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment mixed with relief and praise and sheer joy when a translator finishes up the final Scripture verses of a tribal New Testament. They are ready to shout, “It’s finally done!”

A Long Road Ahead

Then comes the realization that there’s another long road to travel before printed copies of the written Word reach the hands of the tribal people. As Darcy Berglund corresponded with Doug Lotz at NTM’s communications department, she saw the depth of the process ahead.

“We’ve just finished our first month of working on revisions, learning what is involved in the process of formatting and preparing the New Testament for printing,” wrote Darcy. “I was mistaken in figuring that the final year would be a more relaxed time of just doing revisions and read-throughs of the New Testament. Instead I’ve been poring over the Scripture Publication Guidelines document, trying to get an idea of some of the formatting decisions that have to be made by our team. In between I’ve been cramming to get revisions into Acts and Philippians. We have made quite a bit of progress, but there is still much to be done and decided. We have gotten some formatted examples to show our team in order to help them make the decisions that have to be made.”

Darcy’s not alone in this process. Last year alone, NTM missionaries translated nine New Testaments, three of which were formatted and prepared for printing by NTM Communications.

More to Come

Projects like these keep Doug Lotz and his team of proofreaders busy. The Semandang translation is just one project on his desk at this time. There’s a revision/reprint of the Lamogai New Testament, a reformat of the Bisorio Bible as the New and Old Testaments are merged into one book, and soon the Kuman New Testament should begin the process.

Pray for translators like Darcy Berglund — and for Doug Lotz and his team as they format and proof Bibles before they are sent to the printer.