Issues in Bible Translation in Africa

Abstract

While all Bible translation projects face difficult challenges, those in Africa must deal with some unique issues: (1) the difficulty of finding appropriate renderings for key terms such as “grace” and “angel” in cultures where Christianity is relatively “new”; and (2) the problem of rendering items mentioned in Scripture that do not exist in the tropics, for example “bear” and “camel,” etc.

On the other hand, African exegetes and translators may have certain advantages over Western ones since their context and worldview often shares features with the biblical one. For example, the importance of community values, the notions of honor and shame, generosity and hospitality, the presence of polygamy, slavery, and even circumcision as a sign all make the message of the Bible less foreign and easier to render in translation for an African audience. Along with some shared cultural values and practices, some linguistic structures and expressions (“son of man,” “in the hand of,” “dying you will die”) are common to both African and biblical languages.

The challenges are real, but the news is good: The African church is slowly awakening to the role it must play in Bible translation, not only in practical matters, but also in crucial decisions concerning theology, exegesis, and translation renderings.