About TiBT
Our aim
Together in Bible Translation first aims to begin Bible translation in every Malagasy language variety where the need has been established through careful research. This is so that people can come to know and develop a relationship with Jesus.
Secondly, we aspire to help communities develop. From our experience Bible translation into peoples’ mother tongue enables transformation in all domains of life: literacy, health, the environment, social standing, gender issues, and agriculture, etc.
Who we are
Together in Bible Translation (TiBT) / FmL is a grassroots translation movement, which emphasises ownership by each language community. TiBT works with:
• a wide variety of churches in each region (Lutheran, Reformed, Catholic, Anglican, Baptist, Pentecostal, and other denominations)
• local para-church and mission organisations (Campus pour Christ, MAF, Helimission, Friends of Mandritsara)
• academic organisations like universities and theological faculties.
The translators are men and women from all walks of life, who represent their wider language communities. They are mostly Christian believers from various denominations. They work in teams as they translate the Bible into their own languages, specific to their own cultures and in a way that will impact and transform their communities through their personal experience. The translation teams work closely with local language committees, who are involved in making decisions, giving advice, and helping to test and distribute the translated scriptures.
A support team, consisting of academics, church leaders, missionaries, linguists, and translation consultants, from Madagascar and various other countries, from different organisations, are helping to train and equip the translators, the majority of whom are non-academics.
Our [hi]story
In 1992/3 a group of long-term expatriate missionaries, as well as some Malagasy academics and church leaders, asked for help to figure out the language situation in Madagascar. In response to these requests, systematic Language Assessment research was conducted by Leoni Bouwer supported by SIL AFA between 1996 and 2001, which showed that most Malagasy people are unable to use Official Malagasy for effective communication. As a result, the major churches and para-church organisations were invited to collaborate in a pilot project to translate the Gospel of Luke and the Jesus Film into five Malagasy varieties. Most expressed support, with the Malagasy Lutheran Church (FLM) agreeing to be the official national sponsor.
A formal agreement was signed between the Seed Company, the Evangelism Department of the FLM, the Norwegian Mission Society, Wycliffe Bible Translators, and Campus pour Christ. The other member churches of the Malagasy Council of Churches (FFKM), i.e. Catholic (EKAR), Reformed (FJKM) and Anglican (EEM), provided facilitation, advice and translators. The project became known as Luke Partnership in Madagascar (LPM) or Fiaraha-miasa Lioka (FmL).
The pilot-project gradually evolved to include further translation for these five groups, and more language varieties were added. Eighteen different Malagasy language varieties have been engaged with, to date, and six more are to be started in the near future.
Contrary to the fear that some have expressed, that developing mother tongues in Madagascar would cause division, we are finding that it brings unity. Togetherness.
Since the translation work has long grown past the initial goals of the Gospel of Luke with the Jesus Film, the work is now called Together in Bible Translation. Our name reflects the togetherness, the close bonds that have been formed and are forming between people from different denominations, languages and cultures involved in this work.
How we work
Translation is a process where native speakers must discover and internalise meaning, in this case of biblical texts, before they can authentically transfer that into their mother tongue. Regular Bible translation workshops are held where translators receive training and consulting for their work and exchange insights they have gained. In between these large workshops, translation teams get together in their language regions to draft, team check and test their work. In some regions where internet connection is good, they can also connect remotely with their consultants from time to time.
Personal testimonies as well as research have shown that the Bibles in Official Malagasy (the first version was published in 1835) do not “speak” to the majority of Malagasy people, i.e. those who are originally from outside of the Plateaux area, which surrounds the capital Antananarivo. This work, therefore, targets these language groups, where the problem of not understanding the Bible in Official Malagasy is most evident.
The translators often report that they discover the meaning and application of important Biblical truths during the translation process, even though they may have been Christians or church leaders for decades.
It is a vital priority to us to partner with the Malagasy churches and mission stakeholders in the regions where we work. And in the process, true ecumenism has spontaneously developed within the different translation teams, often spreading to their local communities. The translators being from different denominations, work together on finding the best expressions in their common mother tongue to depict the words and meanings from the original text.
