Quality in Translation
“Quality” is an important aspect of Bible translations produced at home and abroad. The end users of a Bible translation usually have certain expectations regarding the quality, style, and presentation of the translation that is being produced. In meaning-based Bible translation, the main qualities of good translations are often described in terms of Accuracy, Clarity, Naturalness, and Acceptability (or: Appropriateness). But these are not the only qualities that Bible translators take into consideration. Some other qualities that may (or may not) be taken into account are the following: Concordance / consistency, poetic diction, fluency / readability, oral communication style, compatibility in form and meaning with the most prestigious Bible translation in the national language, etc.
There is in fact a wide spectrum of perspectives on quality in Bible translation. Some view quality in translation primarily in terms of formal correspondence of the translation with the Biblical source texts in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. Others view quality in terms of its ability to communicate the meaning of the source text in a way that is natural and clear in the receptor language. Still others look at quality through the prism of the possible or actual spiritual impact translations may have on their receptor audience.
The theme of this Conference, “Quality in translation”, covers a wide range of aspects of Bible translation. “Quality” is not limited to the quality of the translated Scriptures. It also pertains to the people who are producing and checking the Scriptures, and to the procedures they are being followed in order to produce and check the Scriptures. “Quality” is also relevant with regard to the training, mentoring, and coaching of new translators and consultants, and with respect to the exegetical resources and translation helps translation practitioners are using. Finally, “Quality” is also important with regard to the broader processes that translation teams and their communities are engaged in: Local ownership of Bible translation projects, involvement of the church, adoption of language technology and other innovations, and embeddedness of Bible translation in Scripture engagement programs and activities.
Recent developments in the field of Bible translation have led to some of the following questions: 1. What is “quality in translation”? Is “quality” primarily defined in terms of “excellence”, or rather in terms of “adequacy” and “passability”? 2. Is there a universal standard by which we can measure the “quality” of translations? Or, is “quality” partly determined by contextual factors? 3. How does “quality in translation” relate to “style of translation” and/or “media forms” employed in translation? 4. How do we know whether a translation is “good enough” to be published / shared with the receptor audience? Who decide(s) what level of quality is needed and how this level of quality is tested and evaluated? 5. To what extent are our ideas about “quality” in translation informed or defined by our theological convictions and our (largely unexamined?) assumptions about the Bible, meaning, communication, and translation? 6. What is the role of the various stakeholders (translation teams, consultants, church leadership, community at large, donors) in the process of quality assurance? 7. How do we balance “quality” vs. “speed”, and “human involvement” vs. “machine translation” in Bible translation? 8. To what extent should the quality of translations be measured in terms of their impact on local individuals and their communities, both in terms of spiritual change and quality of life (human flourishing)?
The organizers of the BT 2023 Conference invite translation practitioners and others who are engaged in related disciplines (Exegesis, linguistics, theology, missiology, Scripture engagement, language technology, etc.) to submit abstracts of papers and presentations that deal with the overall theme of the Conference.
We are looking forward to a good conference with lots of interesting, thought-provoking presentations and discussions. We invite you to add value to these discussions by participating in our Conference.
Scripture engagement
Language program management, community engagement, and project briefs
Exegesis and biblical languages for translators and consultants
Linguistics
Anthropology
Biblical key terms
Tracks & Sub-Themes
Translation principles
Storying and oral Bible translation
Performance and arts
Theology and hermeneutics
Bible translation in sign languages
Training and mentoring
Translation resources
Language technology, Artificial Intelligence
A. Quality in Bible Translation Principles and Procedures (Beekman Lecture #1)
How would you define “Quality” in relation to translation? How should “quality” be produced and manifested: in people (experience, expertise, creativity, critical thinking), in principles (clarifying main values and standards), in processes (facilitating optimal performance), or in resources (using high quality translation helps)?
How does “Quality” differ from “Style” in translation? How does “Quality” relate to “Speed” of translation?
What is the role of translation principles like Accuracy, Clarity, Naturalness, and Acceptability / Appropriateness in producing good quality translations? Are these principles equally important? Or, are some more important than others? Why?
What other translation principles should be considered in addition to these four main translation principles? Concordance / Consistency? Poetic diction? Orality / Aurality? Local ownership? Iterativity? Other? Why?
What kinds of features and/or processes should be avoided in translations? Why?
What kinds of procedures are most helpful to produce and/or check Quality in translation? Why?
Could you give some practical examples of good quality translation choices vs. renderings that should be considered “inferior”?
Should translators in general strive for “excellent” translations, or is “good enough” good enough? Who decide(s) the level of quality that needs to be maintained in translations?
B. Quality in Oral Bible Translation / Bible Translation Performance (Beekman Lecture #2)
What is Oral Bible Translation and how is it different from more traditional forms of Bible Translation? What is its added value when compared to best practices in more traditional forms of Bible translation?
How is quality maintained and checked in Oral Bible Translation? What are the main principles and procedures followed in Oral Bible Translation?
To what extent can (aspects of) Oral Bible Translation be integrated with print-based approaches to Bible translation?
Does Oral Bible Translation imply that printed Bibles are no longer needed? Is Oral Bible Translation intended as an alternative to print-based forms of Bible translation? Or, is it intended as a complementary form of Bible translation (multimodality)?
Could you present a case study of Oral Bible Translation and discuss its pros and cons in comparison with best practice examples of a print-based approach to Bible translation?
To what extent does Oral Bible Translation help to (a) accelerate the pace of translations; (b) broaden the audience; (c) have a bigger and broader impact in terms of changed lives and quality of life (human flourishing)?
C. Quality in Teaching and Applying Biblical Languages (Nida Lecture)
Do Bible translators need to be proficient in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek in order to produce good quality translations? Or, is it also possible to produce good quality translations if the translators make use of good commentaries and translation helps, and if their translation consultants are proficient in the Biblical languages?
Which features of Hebrew and/or Greek are most relevant for translators and consultants to know?
Which features of the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts often present difficulties for translators and consultants? How can these difficulties be overcome?
What books and training courses do you recommend for beginning, intermediate, and more advanced learners of Hebrew and Greek? What are the pros and cons of various courses?
What kind of resources are currently available for translators and consultants to better understand and translate the Hebrew, Aramaic, and/or Greek texts of the Bible?
What kind of resources still need to be developed in order to better equip translators and consultants to produce better quality translations?
D. The Role of Local Communities in Determining Quality in Bible Translation (Lamin Sanneh Lecture)
What is the role of local communities in determining quality in Bible translation? How does their role relate to the role(s) of the translation team, the translation consultant, local reviewers, pastors and elders in the church, and outside donors?
Could you present a case study of a situation where the local community is actively involved in determining style and quality in Bible translation? What kinds of choices did they make? How did they reach consensus and/or deal with conflicting perspectives? How are these different from more traditional translation projects in which translation teams, consultants, and/or the church leadership played a more prominent role in determining the style and quality of their Bible translation?
What is the role of “translation briefs” (or, “project briefs”) in helping the community engage early on with questions related to “style”, “quality”, and “media forms” of the translation?
In general, what type(s) of translations are being produced in contexts where local communities are more actively involved in defining the kind of translation they need (print vs. oral / audio-based translation; literal vs. meaning-based translation; etc.)?
To what extent is embeddedness of translation in Scripture engagement activities by and for the local community an important enabler of Quality in Bible Translation?
F. Artificial Intelligence’s Contribution to Quality in Translation
What is the current role of Artificial Intelligence in translation in general and Bible translation in particular?
What is the added value of Artificial Intelligence in relation to translation? How can AI help to improve the quality of translations?
What can be done or should be done to integrate Artificial Intelligence better into current translation processes and translation resources?
Is there also a possible downside to the proliferation of Artificial Intelligence in Bible translation? Do translators and their communities still feel the same level of ownership and acceptance of their Bible translation if (in their perception) the translation is no longer produced by humans but by machines?
What are the next steps in developing AI-based resources and processes? What can translation teams and consultants do to engage in the process?