Dave and Nancy Brunn are based out of the USA. Dave is an international Bible translation consultant. “In September, Dave had the privilege of leading a two-week Bible translation workshop in West Africa. Translators came from several African countries to attend the workshop.

“Each lecture focused on a principle of translation or on a specific challenge that all Bible translators face regularly. After every lecture, the participants divided into breakout groups to work through a practical application exercise that was directly related to the material presented in the lecture. Each breakout group had an experienced Bible translation consultant with them to keep the discussions on track and to make sure every pertinent issue was considered.

“The breakout sessions proved to be a valuable learning context as the participants wrestled with complex translation challenges together. This allowed the translators to broaden their perspective by viewing various Bible passages and translation challenges through the eyes of others. Some of the challenging issues the groups worked through together were the following:

“How do you translate extremely complicated sentences into languages that are totally unrelated to Greek and Hebrew, making sure the information load is manageable and understandable for the readers?

“How do you translate the account of Paul's perilous journey across the Mediterranean (Acts 27) for a group of people who have never seen the ocean or any large body of water?

“What a privilege it is to assist precious servants of the Lord who are translating God's eternal Word for needy people groups who have never had the Scriptures in their heart language.” Pray for fruitfulness in this endeavour.