• Uganda
    2010 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses

    • TRANSLATION SPEEDS UP THE INGATHERING

      The English language is used throughout the country. Luganda is, however, the most widely used local language, while more than 30 languages are spoken by various ethnic groups. Thus, a key factor that has contributed to faster growth in recent times has been the progress of translation work.

      “Although my mother was a faithful witness,” said Fred Nyende, “she found the meetings far more meaningful when I translated study articles from English to Luganda. What I didn’t realize was that I was getting practice for a much greater translation work.” What did Fred mean?

      Shortly after he began pioneering in 1984, Fred was asked to teach a Luganda-language course to the missionaries. The following year he was invited to become a member of the Luganda translation team. Initially, he and the other translators did their work at home during their free time. Later, the team was able to do their translation work together full-time in a small room attached to a missionary home. Interestingly, during the ban in the mid-1970’s, some issues of The Watchtower had been translated into Luganda and mimeographed. After a while, though, this project was discontinued. It was only in 1987 that The Watchtower was once again published in Luganda. Since then, the translation team has been enlarged, and the translators have worked hard to translate many more publications for the growing number of Luganda-language congregations. Presently, almost half of all congregations in the country are Luganda speaking.

      In time, our publications were also translated into other languages. There are now permanent full-time translation teams for Acholi, Lhukonzo, and Runyankore. In addition, individual publications have been translated into Ateso, Lugbara, Madi, and Rutoro.

      The Acholi and Runyankore teams operate from translation offices in Gulu and Mbarara respectively, where those languages are predominantly spoken. This helps the translators to keep up their mother tongue and to produce a translation that is easily understood. At the same time, the local congregations enjoy the support of the translators.

      Without a doubt, translation work requires much effort and considerable resources. The diligent Ugandan translators, together with other translation teams worldwide, have benefited from advanced training in language comprehension and translation skills. The results have been well worth the effort and expense​—more people in Uganda, from various “tribes and peoples and tongues,” are benefiting from reading Bible truth in their own language than ever before. (Rev. 7:9, 10) As a result, by 2003, there were more than 3,000 Kingdom preachers in Uganda, and just three years later, in 2006, there were 4,005.