How Does Literacy Contribute to the Quality of a Bible Translation?

In an Oral Bible Translation (OBT) project, translation teams can translate, publish and distribute Scripture with little to no reliance on literacy in either reference or target languages. While OBT is arguably a faster process that yields a more natural text, how does literacy improve quality in a Written Bible Translation (WrBT)? With the introduction of OBT, the impact of literacy on quality in WrBTs is made more obvious by comparison. First, this paper will review the ways in which literacy contributes to translation quality. Second, this paper will discuss the ways in which OBT teams can strengthen their programs by incorporating literacy components and the ways in which WrBT teams can strengthen their programs by incorporating oral components. These opportunities exist in all six stages of translation: drafting, team checking, community checking, back translation, consultant checking and publication. For example, OBT teams can begin concurrent transcription of prepublication audio Scripture, and WrBT teams can share prepublication Scripture drafts in oral formats as a part of community checking. While there is no idealized hybrid form of OBT/WrBT that is free of the weaknesses of OBT and WrBT, within either method translation teams can improve their translation program by incorporating both literacy and oral components.