Instructional Information in Oral Bible Translation

The history of written Bible translation has seen a progressively growing amount of instructional material, defined as any kind of supplementary written material meant to help the reader of the Bible. In addition to what is usually referred to as paratext, instructional elements may include punctuation, monographic signs, and scripture usage instructions. Such material has been progressively added to the biblical text based on three main factors: technology, norms, and utility. Though highly subjective and suggestive at times, it is generally admitted that beyond serving a vital purpose for the reader, instructional material has become part of what makes a given translation acceptable. The “retranslative” nature of oral Bible translation commands that we take notice of such instructional information when embarking on a translational journey. Several critical questions arise in this regard, including whether instructional material can be translated orally and how, and what its usefulness for oral Bible translation may be. One has to consider whether – and how – reading out loud a pre-existing written text, with all the shifts, additions and omissions involved, makes it into a (new) translation, different from a presentation. Such translation or reading-out-loud is also not necessarily what an oral culture tends to associate with the concept of “oral.” A comparative analysis of a new oral translation of the Book of Jude and a pre-existing written one in the Ghomala language of Cameroon, focusing on the instructional material used, serves to demonstrate these important issues.