John is a member of the Mexico Branch of SIL and, along with his wife Judith, served the Tezoatlán Mixtec people of Oaxaca, Mexico for 22 years. The New Testament was dedicated in March, 2008. He is a translation consultant for the Mixtecs of Ayutla, Guerrero. The New Testament was dedicated in 2017, and work is continuing on the Old Testament. He has an M.A. in Missions from Columbia International University. His article on Mixtec motion and arrival verbs was published in IJAL in 1996. He was the Mexico Branch Translation Coordinator from 2013-2019 and continues as translation consultant.
The Top Ten Things to Consider When Translating John 3:16
Abstract
John 3:16 is the best known Bible verse. Some translation teams may choose to translate this verse early on in the project to get this precious and powerful message out to the people ASAP. However to translate it accurately and naturally is more complicated than appears at first glance. I will share the challenges the translation team I was a part of had to deal with when translating it into Mixtec, an indigenous (original) language of Mexico. We had to consider: How does the message tie into the immediate context? Who said/wrote this? Does God still love the world? What does it mean that He “gave” His son? Should we say, “me”, His son? Can you believe in a person? What are the local cultural beliefs about “perishing” and eternal life? This is not an attempt to cover every aspect of John 3:16, but to raise awareness of some of the issues translation teams need to be aware of. Translation teams can improve their rendering of this verse by taking the time to investigate these and other related issues.