Who Makes a Good Translation Team Member in Diaspora Contexts?

“Bible translation projects must happen in a language community’s ancestral homeland.” This paradigm has driven most Bible translation over the past century. However, in today’s global context of increasing mobility and interconnectedness, we are learning that Bible translation must move away from being strictly location centered to being language-community centered. It is now more strategic than ever to connect with diaspora communities for Bible translation, which includes diaspora community members contributing to Bible translation projects, especially for difficult to access countries where there has been notable emigration. But who should be a part of this work?
 
In researching existing diaspora projects we can learn how diaspora members have joined translation teams, what types of qualifications were considered, and how successful that was. This paper looks at who makes good team members for translation work uniquely in diaspora contexts, including factors such as language proficiency, network ties, past experience in translation, geographic proximity to others, frequency of homeland visits (if any), internet access, and more. Understanding these elements better will help to guide participation in God’s movement through migration as more translation projects are initiated outside of ancestral homelands.