Paratext 7.1 Training!

So last week I branched out and did something a little bit different. I attended a workshop!! I rarely blog about my work because not only would I then need it to be approved by our organization (Hello Big Brother), but I rarely haul my butt out of the office and do anything very interesting anyways. Until last week!

Last week I was able to attend an advanced Paratext 7.1 workshop here in Entebbe. Paratext 7.1 is a translation program that provides all sorts of helps for translators – a ton of different Bible versions (eg. NIV, NLT etc. as well as other languages such as Luganda, Rutooro, Swahili, Greek)and other cool stuff.

Translators these days have to be very versatile. No longer is it a lone white missionary (usually with big glasses) with his half naked “native” counterpart, hunched over his clunky desktop or, God forbid, a notebook and papers. These days it’s some smartly dressed black dude with a shiny laptop, internet modems, external hard drives and other fancy gadgets, who is not only required to be a godly sterling exegete, but a linguist (who usually helped write the language in the first place), editor, but a computer and software whiz to boot (got to know how to use all those fancy gadgets and keep them working!). As if that’s not enough, about half of them are ordained reverends of various denominations. I coordinate and supervise six translation projects full of these types of chaps. Think I’m a little out of my league?

At least that’s how it is in Uganda. I can’t speak for other places.

So anyways, Paratext 7.1 is a way cool software program. Last week all of the six translation teams added to their inventories of correctly spelled words so that they could use the spell checker, checked all of their book headings in books already translated, made character, punctuation, matched pairs punctuation , repeated words, no word after capital style, no capital after punctuation and mixed capitalization inventories and then starting running basic checks on all of their previously translated work . All of these different inventories build a database of valid and invalid occurrences. They also selected quotation rules, learned how to check Key Biblical terms, check footnotes and cross references, set up glossaries and use the interlinearizer. All in a days work, you know? Being as two of the teams are over 80% finished with their translations and three others have over 75% finished, getting the inventories done and doing checking on all of those translated scriptures was no mean feat!

So now for some pictures of the blessed event!

Our pristine conference room at the Catholic convent in EBB

The Lubwisi team, CM and Bishop HB, and WT, a translation consultant who lived over 10 years in Bundibugyo with the Babwisi.

The newest team, the Kwamba, with MA our operations manager/IT expert "overseeing";) The Aringa team (who will be finishing their NT next year!) with office colleauges SZ (comp software course instructor), SO, and DO (IT/Comp software guy) EW, translation consultant and ex Lunyole translator, current Lunyole translator AG, and the Lugwere team, GC and DD, with translation consultant and ex Lugwere translator, SM. The Lugungu team, Rev JM and MB, with consultant and course instructor, JM from the UK.