“Acts cries good.” exclaimed Joe, a Barupu language translator, “The final checking of Acts went really well. The local language experts said it “cries good”.
After an initial translation is completed, it’s important to check the work with local speakers who are experts in their own languages. The Aitape West Project recently finished translating the New Testament book of Acts in five languages. The book of Acts details the activities of the Apostles and is one of the larger books of the NT. This milestone was greeted with enthusiasm by those who were able to read in their heart language. The village consultants expressed their amazement at hearing Acts in their own languages! Here is what they said,
“Through the Apostles of Christ, the Word of God came and reached us. We are the Gentiles, but God has a plan for everyone to know him. Jesus came and died on earth, meaning that, he took us, the Gentiles, and put us together with the Jews as one family of God.”
“We feel the sweetness of our own language and are very happy and excited about the book of Acts. It runs very well and cries good to our ears. When we go back to the village we will tell the others of the good work that the translators are doing. THANK YOU!!!”
“Now I understand how God’s Word works, and when the checking is done and I go back to my village, I will go to bed and get up with God’s Word. Now my eyes are open, and I no longer want to practice anything that is wrong. I encourage our translators to do the same in their lives in order that we may show everyone else the power God’s Word has to change lives.”
“When we read through Acts chapters 20-28 it really challenged our lives, because of the work and life of Paul which he gave entirely to doing God’s work. This confronted us and made us realize that we needed to change our lives to do God’s work. Also the work that the translators are doing is very good and the translation is coming up clear in our own language and making it easy and quick to understand the meaning of God’s Word.”
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