What if you couldnt read the Bible in

What if you couldn’t read the Bible in your own language? 9/29/2020 1

Being able to read the Bible in our own language is something we often take for granted, but that’s not an option for many people. 9/29/2020 2

For many people around the world, the Bible is not available in their heart language. If it were, I’d be out of a job. 9/29/2020 3

Introductions Hi, I’m Jean Baumbach 9/29/2020 I’m doing Bible translation for the Woɗaaɓe Fulani people in Niger Republic, West Africa 4

The Woɗaaɓe Fulani There approximately one million Fulani in Niger, with about half being speakers of the eastern dialect (the one I’m working on translating). Ø 100, 000 to 200, 000 of these are Woɗaaɓe, about 500 of whom are Christians. Ø 9/29/2020 5

Bible Translation- what is it? Bible translation is taking God’s Word and expressing it in another language. 9/29/2020 6

The Translation Team Of course, I’m not doing this alone. I have two Fulani men who work with me. 9/29/2020 Mohamane and Keejo and I work together daily. 7

The Process: Step One Ø Ø Our translation is a little different from others in that it’s being done in cooperation with the Fulfulde Harmonization Project. There are many dialects of Fulfulde, so a suggestion was made that we work together and use a computer program to make transfers from one dialect to another. Because of this, our first step is to take the rough draft we get from the computer and smooth things out so it sounds better and makes sense in our Fulfulde. (Fulfulde is the language of the Fulani people). 9/29/2020 8

Step Two: Revision Ø Tambaya Mohamane 9/29/2020 Keejo Ø Next we meet with Tambaya to go over the book in more detail. Tambaya has had training as a pastor and can also make use of the resources available in French. 9

Step 3: Village Testing Ø Keejo, Mohamane, and I travel to different towns or camps to make sure the translation is clear and understandable in other areas and to other Fulani clans. Ø Since most people can’t read, Keejo and Mohamane take turns reading through the book verse by verse while I ask questions about each verse. 9/29/2020 10

Step 4: Translation Committee Ø Next we go to Tassa Ibrahim to meet with the translation committee. The committee members help us make the translation flow better and check for any errors. My home at Tassa Ibrahim 9/29/2020 11

Final Step: Consultant Check ØThe last step is to meet with the translation consultant who goes over each verse in detail to make sure it’s correctly translated and makes suggestions on how we can improve the translation. 9/29/2020 12

Progress Ø Right now we have almost half of the New Testament translated into Woɗaaɓe Fulfulde. 9/29/2020 13

How You Can Help Ø v We have two major needs in order to complete the translation of the Bible into Fulfulde: prayer and financial support. Prayer is a very important part of the process. We need your prayer support in order to complete the translation. Without your prayers, I couldn’t keep working in Niger. 9/29/2020 14

v Financial support: Finances are also needed to maintain the translation. These are used to pay the salaries of my cotranslators, to cover the travel expenses as we do village testing, and to attend seminars to help us be better translators. The cost is approximately $1100/month. 9/29/2020 15

The Next Step Ø Ø If you would like to be involved in this ministry, you can contact me by email jean. baumbach@sim. org I send out quarterly prayer letters and some email updates in between. If you would like to be a financial partner, you can send contributions to: SIM-USA PO Box 7900 Charlotte, NC 28241 -7900 (704) 588 -4300 Please make your checks payable to SIM-USA and note that it is for the Fulfulde Literacy and Translation Project # NE 97427. Thanks for your help! 9/29/2020 16