As part of the translation process, it is necessary that several people check the translation to make sure that it is clearly communicating the message that it should communicate. Several important factors are addressed in checking the translation.
One important reason for checking the translation is to affirm accuracy. The translator may not have understood fully the passage in the source text, and therefore not have communicated it clearly in his translation. Using tools such as commentaries and other translations can be helpful in confirming that the meaning is accurately understood and conveyed.
Another reason for checking is to affirm naturalness and flow. The person translating may not have used the most common venacular. Having others in the language community read it to check for flow will provide insight for correcting awkward wording.
Checking is also important to affirm consistant and correct grammar, punctuation and spelling. Often the translation is into a previously unwritten language, so translators and other team members may have to work together to agree on spelling and punctuation.
As soon as the translator has created a draft, he will begin to check it himself. Several layers of checking by others on the translation team will follow. Finally two other levels of checking outside the translation team are recommended. One will help others in the community to test the translation for naturalness and flow. The other will give theologians and scholars of various denominations the opportunity to provide recommendations.
Checking the Scripture may seem tedious, but it is well worth the time and effort. The translation improves with each new set of eyes that can provide feedback and recommendations.
Authentic Assessment is a process for evaluating the quality of a work. It is done by setting a standard for the quality and then relying on that standard as a measurement throughout the process of producing the work. This standard is called a rubric.
Translation teams work together to design a rubric of objective criteria that must be present for their scripture translation to be considered good. They use that rubric as they produce their translation and as they assess its quality. If they find that any part of the translation lacks a particular characteristic, they adjust the translation so that it will have that characteristic.
After the team has affirmed the quality of their translation, the community and church leadership also use the rubric to assess its quality. If they find that any part of the translation lacks a particular characteristic, they they tell the translation team who then compares the issue with the standard in the rubric to decide if changes need to be made.
Developing a rubric and using it from start to finish helps ensure that the translation is assessed by the same objective criteria from the very start of the project.
During the first few days of a MAST workshop, translation teams are guided through the process of developing an authentic assessment rubric for their translation project. Below are the instructions for creating this rubric, which then guides the checking process throughout the project.
Pídale al equipo de traducción que elija un líder / representante de su grupo de idiomas para administrar el proceso de construcción de la rúbrica. También busque una persona que pueda traducir esta rúbrica al inglés (es posible que necesite una doble traducción, primero al idioma nacional y luego al inglés).
What is a good translation?
List at least ten qualities. Even twenty if you want to stretch.
Work together as a team to make one list that includes all the items from each individual’s list. Combine qualities that are the same and develop one master list of at least 10 qualities that everyone agrees on. The chosen leader will guide this process.
¿Qué es una buena traducción?
Lista de al menos diez cualidades. Incluso veinte si quieres estirarte.
Trabajen juntos como un equipo para hacer una lista que incluya todos los elementos de la lista de cada individuo. Combine cualidades que sean iguales y desarrolle una lista maestra de al menos 10 cualidades en las que todos estén de acuerdo. El líder elegido guiará este proceso.
Below you will see a sample rubric created by following the steps above:
####List Ten or More Characteristics (up to 20 if you can).
Accurate
Community Oriented
Clear
Grammatically consistent
Natural
Faithful to Original Languages
Authoritative
Historical
Equal
Acceptable
Trustworthy
Has Appropriate Familial Terms
Culturally Relevant
Accurate
Clear
Natural
Faithful
Authoritative
Historical
Equal
Notice that in condensing the qualities, some of the items on the list are combined so there are no longer 10 seperate qualities.
Accurate
Clear
Natural
Faithful
Authoritative
Historical
Equal
The questions are designed as yes/no. If the answer is yes 70% of the time, but no the other 30%, then the answer is "No". The question has to be answered yes 100% of the time to be "Yes". In this way areas that need attention (even down to the minute details) will get reviewed and edited.
View additional sample rubrics at v-raft.com.
Checking levels are designed to expand the sphere of people who have the opportunity to check and affirm the quality of the translation. There are three levels of checking that lead to three levels of affirmation.
The three checking levels are as follows:
Each of the checking levels results in an affirmation level. The checking levels as explained in this manual are a guide for affirming quality and expanding the exposure of a new translation.
During a MAST workshop the translators do the Level One Check by engaging in the checking steps (steps 5-8) as a team. This platform assures that the individual's work is edited by other members. Additionally, these steps give team members the responsibility of working together to agree on and affirm the final product. Once this is done, the translation has reached Affirmation Level One.
At this point, the team is encourageed to print or otherwise publish their translation so that it can be immediately useful.They are also invited to upload their translation to the Wycliffe Associates content server.
Also at this point, the translation team and church leaders will determine what further checking and subsequent affirmation levels should be reached.
Level Two Check is done by the church leaders and other Christian members of the community. When any needed changes have been made and the leaders and members have affirmed the quality of the translation, the translation has reached Affirmation Level Two.
Finally, some translation teams may wish to have their work reviewed and affirmed by a network of denominational leaders and scholars. When any needed changes have been made and the network of leaders and scholars has affirmed the quality of the translation, the translation has reached Affirmation Level Three.
The church in each people group has the authority to decide for themselves what is and what is not a good quality translation of the Bible in their language. Authority to check and validate a Bible translation (which is constant) is separate from capacity, or the ability to carry out the process of checking a Bible translation (which can be increased). The authority for determining quality belongs to the church, independent of their current ability, experience, or access to resources that facilitate the checking of Bible translations. So while the church in a language group has the authority to check and validate their own Bible translation, tools and resources available on bibleineverylanguage.org are designed to ensure that the church also has the capacity to check the quality of their Bible translation using an excellent process.
This model proposes a layered approach to affirming the quality of a translation, designed to reflect three general levels of church authority within a people group:
Every check on the translation will be guided by the authentic assessment rubric that is created by the translation team to express the essential qualities of a good translation.
a small change
The intent of this level is to affirm the agreement of the translation team with standard Christian doctrine, as well as with the guidelines for ensuring the accuracy of the translation itself. Publishing content at this level makes it available to members of the language community and provides an open invitation (implied or direct) to them to suggest improvements to the translation.
To achieve this level, the translation team asserts that the Statement of Faith is an accurate reflection of their own beliefs and that the translated content is also in harmony with it.
The translation team asserts that the translation has been done in accordance with the MAST process and that they have made use of available exegetical and translation checking resources in the translation process, including the Translation Notes and Translation Words.
An explanation of the steps followed during level one checking are available at Level One Check.
The intent of this level is two-fold:
L'intention de ce niveau est double:
to affirm the effectiveness of the form of the language used in the translation, as determined by representatives of the language community
affirmer l'efficacité de la forme de la langue utilisée dans la traduction, telle que déterminée par les représentants de la communauté linguistique
to affirm the accuracy of the translation, as determined by pastors or leaders from the local churches that will use it
affirmer l'exactitude de la traduction, telle que déterminée par les pasteurs ou les dirigeants des églises locales qui l'utiliseront
At this level, the model implements the concept of a "testimony of two or three witnesses" in the checking process.
À ce niveau, le modèle met en œuvre le concept de «témoignage de deux ou trois témoins» dans le processus de vérification.
To achieve this level, the translation team will submit the translation to members of the language community that will use the translation. The language community will review the translation for clarity and naturalness. The team will also work with church leaders from the language community to review the translation for accuracy by checking it against the source texts, the exegetical resources, the Statement of Faith, and the Translation Guidelines.
The translation team will edit the translation based on these reviews so that the language community affirms that it is natural and clear, and the church leaders affirm that it is accurate.
The rubric created by the translation team will be used as a guide during this check. Specific steps to be taken for this level of checking can be found at Level Two Check.
The intent of this level is to affirm that the translation agrees with the intent of the original texts and with the sound doctrine of the Church historic and universal.
L'... I don't know french
To achieve this level, the translation team will work with the highest leadership of the church that speaks the language to review the Scripture. It is best if these leaders represent as many of the major groups of churches (networks and denominations) that exist in the language community as possible. Level 3 is thus achieved by the mutual agreement of the leadership of multiple church networks.
The translation team will edit the translation so that the leadership of these church networks affirm that it is an accurate translation and will be accepted by their church fellowships.
The authentic assessment rubric will be used to guide this process. Specific steps for level 3 checking are available at Level Three Check.
Level 3 is completed when the translation has been thoroughly checked and affirmed by the leadership (or their delegates) of at least two church networks.
Level One checking will be done primarily by the translation team; it can also include help from others in the language community. The translator or translation team should check their translation often (usually as soon as a whole chapter is drafted) so that they can correct mistakes as early as possible in the translation process. Sometimes a step will have to be repeated before moving on to the next step.
Translation teams are invited to upload Bible texts and biblical content to the online server after they reach Checking Level One. This enables the broadest reach of the content as an active project, with an open invitation to others in the language community (implied or direct) to help improve the translation.
These are the steps that the translation team must follow in order to achieve Checking Level One:
When these steps have been completed, edits have been incorporated into the translated portion, and the translation team is collectively satisifed with the product, it is considered level one checked. At this point, if the translation team desires to do so, they are invited to upload the translation to the Wycliffe Associates content server where the work can be seen on bibleineverylanguage.org to reach a broader community.
The purpose of Level Two checking is to engage representative groups from the local language community to assess the quality of the translating and contribute to its improvement where needed.
The level two check focuses on pastors and the Christian community within the target language. Once the translation team has reached level one with its translation, the translation is ready to be shared outside the team for further review. Ideally, a leader on the translation team will work with local pastors and Christians to check the scripture's clarity and naturalness.
The translator or leader will read (if it is a written translation) a portion of the translation to the gathered listeners. Before reading, he should tell the people listening to stop him if they hear something that does not sound natural. Alternatively, if the people are literate, each one in the group can be asked to read a passage of the newly translated material. It is best, even if everyone in the group is literate, to have the portions read out loud to the whole group. Portions should not be too long (this is subjective to the abilities of the group and the type of passage). It is also very important for listeners to understand that they are now a part of the team helping to improve and affirm the quality of the scripture. They themselves are not being tested. Rather the questions are designed to help them provide feedback on the meaningfulness of the new translation.
The following tools have been created to assist teams in checking and are recommended for use during this level: Translation Questions, Translation Notes, and the Reviewer's Guide. Translation Questions and Translation Notes are embedded in tStudio, and all of these tools are available on bibleineverylanguage.org.
In addition, the translation team will have developed a rubric for testing and affirming the quality of their work. This rubric lists the characeristics that the translation needs to have in order to be of good quality. This rubric will help the team determine which tools and methods to apply to the level two check within their community. More information on this strategy is available at v-raft.com.
Key elements of this level of checking are:
When this has been done, the translation is considered to be at level two.
Level Three checking will be done by groups or organizations that are recognized by the churches in a language community. The leaders from these groups will verify that they affirm the quality the translation. This affirmation is not required for distribution of the translation, but rather serves to build the community's confidence in the quality of the translation.
Participants in this level of checking need to be different from the ones who participated in level two. Each level is an expansion of exposure, and this is most significant in affirming the quality as well as noting any needed improvements.
The purpose of this level is to affirm the alignment of the translation with the intent of the original texts and the sound doctrine of the Church historic and universal, through the review and affirmation by the leadership of the church that speaks the language. Level Three is thus achieved by the mutual agreement of the leadership of multiple church networks.
Level Three is completed when the translation has been thoroughly checked and validated by the leadership (or their delegates) of at least two church networks or denominations. When possible these should be leaders who have been trained/ordained through the church network, and they should use every aspect of their own knowledge and training to check the scriptures.
Here are some specific steps that can be followed for this check. However, the most important aspect of this check is to consider the authentic assessment rubric created by the translation team as the guide.
If the answer is no to any of the above questions, please note the area in the text that is a concern and communicate with the translation team and explanation of your concerns.
If you answer "yes" to any of the questions in this second group, please explain in more detail so that the translation team can know what the specific problem is, what part of the text needs correction, and how you would like them to correct it.
If there were problems with the translation, make plans to meet with the translation team and resolve these problems. After you meet with them, the translation team may need to check their revised translation with the community leaders to make sure that it still communicates well, and then meet with you again.
Once the translation team has addressed suggestions to the satisfaction of the checking team, the scripture is considered to be checked to level three.
This step requires at least three people - the translator of the passage and two partners from the translation team--One partner who can translate the mother tongue to the source language and the second with appropriate competence in the source language.
The translator will read their translation one verse at a time, out loud, in the mother tongue. Without using any resources, one partner will listen to the mother tongue translation and verbally translate the mother tongue to the source language. A second partner will listen to the first partner’s verbal back-translation and compare it to the source text. The two partners will suggest edits where appropriate.
The wording will not be exactly the same between the source text and the back-translation, but it is important that:
(1) the meaning in the translation is the same as the meaning in the source text
(2) all of the events and important details found in the source text are present in the translation and
(3) no new or extra information has been added.
If the meaning is not the same, or if all of the events and important details are not present, the text should be edited. The team should consult the source text, Translation Notes, Translation Words, and other translations or other resourses to help them make corrections and improve the translation.
As well as asking questions, there are other checking methods that you may also use to ensure that the translation is easy to read and sounds natural to the listeners. Here are some other methods that you may like to try:
Retell Method: You, the translator or tester, can read a few verses and ask someone else to retell what was said. This helps to check the clarity and naturalness of the translation and offers alternate ways of saying the same thing.
Reading Method: Someone other than you, the translator or tester, should read a portion of the translation while you take notes where the pauses and mistakes occur. This will show how easy or how difficult it is to read and understand the translation. Look at the places in the translation where the reader paused or made mistakes and consider what part of the translation was difficult. You may need to revise the translation at those points so that it is easier to read and understand.
Offer Alternate translations: In areas where you are not sure of the best way to express a word or phrase, ask other people for an alternative translation or offer a choice between two translations and see which alternative translation people think is the most clear.
Reviewer Input: Let others whom you respect read your translation. Ask them to take notes and tell you where it might be improved. Look for better word choices, natural expressions, and even spelling adjustments.
Discussion Groups: Ask people to read the translation aloud in a group of people and allow them and others to ask questions for clarification. Pay attention to the words they use, since alternate words and expressions come up when someone is trying to make sense of a difficult point, and these alternate words and expressions might be better than the ones in the translation. Pay attention to the places where people do not understand the translation, and work to make those places clearer.
It is important that your target language translation include all of the verses that are there in the source language Bible. We do not want some verses to be missing by mistake. But remember that there can be good reasons why some Bibles have certain verses that other Bibles do not have.
In order for readers to be able to understand the translation easily, it is important that there be consistency in the following things: spelling, punctuation, and formatting.
Check the important words throughout the whole translation to see that you have translated them in a consistent way. This does not mean that they must always be translated the same way, but that each sense of the word is translated in the same way. (See Key Word Check)
It will be good to have a consistent way of spelling all the words in your language. But in your checks, you may want to focus on checking the spelling of key terms, words you have borrowed from another language, and the names of people and places. (See: Consistent Spelling)
Check to see what decisions your team has made concerning punctuation, and make sure that it is used in a consistent way throughout your Bible. (See Consistent Punctuation)
Translators can use formatting to help readers understand how a text is organized. (See: Formatting)
Paragraphs help readers see how ideas are organized. If you use paragraph breaks in your translation, check to see that the breaks are in places that will be helpful for the readers. If you have a chapter with only one or two paragraphs, you may want to see if it could be broken up more. You may use the paragraph breaks in the Unlocked Literal Bible as a guide. You can see paragraphs in the Unlocked Literal Bible at Bibleineverylanguage.org.
Indenting poetry can help readers recognize that a portion of text is poetic, and it can help readers understand the structure of the poem. If you indent poetry, make sure that you do it in a consistent way.
Indenting lists can help readers recognize the organization of a complex list.
Section headings can help readers know what a portion of scripture is about before they start reading it. Section headings can also help readers find a passage that they want to read. If you use section headings, be sure that they are formatted differently than the rest of the text so readers can know that they are not part of the original text. You may want to center the headings over the page, or use bold or italic character styles. Make sure that your section headings all have the same character styles.