TRANSLATING SPIRITUAL FOOD

In 1980 the branch office assigned us to work as translators​—a work for which we felt totally unqualified. (1 Cor. 1:28, 29) At first, we were able to buy an old mimeograph machine from the government, and we used it to print material for our meetings. We even translated the book The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life into Tuvaluan and printed it on this machine. I still remember the strong smell of ink and the effort required in the intense tropical heat to print all this literature by hand. At the time, we did not have electricity!

It was a challenge to translate into Tuvaluan, as we had very few reference works to help us. But sometimes help came from unexpected sources. One morning I called by mistake at the home of someone who was opposed to the truth. The householder, an older man who had been a teacher, was quick to remind me that we should not call at his home. Then, he said: “I just want to mention one thing. In your translation, you use the passive form too much. It is not used that often in Tuvaluan.” I checked with others, and he was correct. So we made the necessary adjustments. However, I was amazed that Jehovah had given us this help by means of an opposer who obviously read our literature!

The first piece of literature printed in Tuvaluan for distribution to the public was a Memorial invitation. That was followed by Kingdom News No. 30, released simultaneously with the English. What a joy it was to give something to the people in their own language! Gradually, some brochures and even some books became available in Tuvaluan. In 1983 the Australia branch started to print a quarterly 24-page Watchtower, which gave us an average of seven paragraphs to study each week. What was the reaction in the community? Since people in Tuvalu love to read, our literature became very popular. The arrival of each new publication was announced in a news bulletin on the government radio station, sometimes even making headline news!a

The translation work started with pen and paper. Later, manuscripts were typed and retyped numerous times before being sent off to the printing branch in Australia. At one time, the branch had two different sisters enter every manuscript into the computer, even though they did not understand Tuvaluan. This system of entering the text twice and then comparing the differences on the computer resulted in remarkably few mistakes. Composed pages were returned to us via air mail for checking and then sent back to the branch for printing.

How things have changed! Now translation teams enter the text directly into computers. In most cases, the corrected text is composed locally, producing files that can be sent to the printing branches via the Internet. No longer is there a frantic rush to the post office to send the manuscripts off by mail.

FURTHER ASSIGNMENTS

As the years went by, Jenny and I received various assignments throughout the Pacific. From Tuvalu we were assigned to the Samoa branch in 1985. There we assisted with translation into the Samoan, Tongan, and Tokelauan languages in addition to the work we were still doing in Tuvaluan.b Then in 1996 we were given a similar assignment in the Fiji branch, where we were able to give support to the translation work being done in the Fijian, Kiribati, Nauruan, Rotuman, and Tuvaluan languages.

For example, at one point a question was raised as to whether it was worth all the effort to provide literature in Tuvaluan. I was so encouraged to read this answer from the Governing Body: “We see absolutely no reason why you should discontinue translation work in the Tuvaluan language. Even though the Tuvaluan field may be small in comparison to other language groups, the people still need to be reached with the good news in their own language.”