Back translation

We did a lot of "back translation" during this translation workshop. It is a translation back into English of the local language translation and it should reflect how the language worded the sentence, but also make sense in English. It is used by consultants to check the accuracy of the translation and since they don't know every language in PNG, back translations have to be made, so that they can see in English, what the local language version says.

Here's an example from part of Exodus 15:25 in Taupota:

The Taupota version says:
Ma maranai i ahare hopunei au waira yana wairana i vira po umana i ahi.

A word for word, literal version of this is:
And when he throw it-out in water then that-water it became so drink it good.
The version above doesn't make much sense in English, but you can see what it is supposed to say. We want it to make a bit more sense for the consultant, so we write a version that sounds better in English and this is called a back translation.

Here's a back translation for this passage:
And when he threw it out into the water, then that water became so that it was good to drink.

My NIV Bible says: He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.

Now here's some photos:

Doing some work with Rex from Taupota:

Participants performing a song and dance:

Nice sunset: