Bible translation opens up the story of one's own people

The parents of Angolan Floyd Rafael used their own language, umbundu, as a secret language. They taught the children Portuguese. Now Floyd wants to find his roots, and the Bible in his own language plays a key role in that.

The Angolan Bible Society has several Bible translations in progress. New translations will be made for languages for which there has been no Bible at all, and in addition, old translations made by foreigners will be revised.

The New Testament has already been published in several languages, and the entire Bible in Umbandu is waiting to be printed. Similarly, the work is unfinished with regard to the Bibles in the Ndonga and Kwanyama languages.

Without determined work, languages will remain in kitchens, and their users will have to juggle between their own language and the dominant language in society. Translating the Bible removes the cultural stigma of using one’s own local language. When it is used in churches, it is an important sign of acceptance: God also speaks our language.

One of them who threatens to lose his culture

Floyd Rafael is a young Angolan who only started to get to know his own language and culture as an adult. As a child, she learned Portuguese at home because her parents thought it would help her cope better in the world.

The parents of the home language, Umbundu, only spoke to each other when they did not want the children to understand what was being talked about.

“When my parents were younger, it was embarrassing for them to use their mother tongue. As more and more generations move on, people begin to lose their culture, language, and traditional names. I’m one of them,” Rafael says.

Sometime in the future, she wants to teach her children about local Angolan customs and traditions.

“If you don’t know where you’re coming from, if you don’t know the fundamentals of yourself and where you’re coming from, you don’t know where you’re going.

The language in which prayer is prayed is a living language

The church is a place where the language lives. It is spoken, sung and prayed. It is also where the words of the Bible find community. When people receive the Bible in their own language, they get a tool to do theology from their own culture. Then faith is not a cultural loan, but becomes a genuine part of local life. It is a major and long-term change that will carry for generations to come.

That is why Bible translation is so important. It supports the identity of communities, the opportunity to learn and the ability to know their own story. It gives the right to hear God’s Word in one’s own language.

The Bible in one’s own language belongs to everyone. And when it is opened, people will find in their own language the value that it has always had.