Connecting the dots

What does it take to make a GoodSeed translation available?

( Read this in French / Lisez ce en français )

Rusty’s* desk is crowded. Stacks of paper, books, a MacBook with a blue sticker supporting local businesses and a coil of cables are being arranged to go into a sturdy backpack in preparation for a work trip. This upcoming trip will see Rusty pass through the UK, Germany, Italy and a few other places too risky to mention. Behind him, a map of the world is tacked to the wall not simply as office decoration, but as a way to visualize the remote locations where his contacts are located. Another wall bears a whiteboard covered in a long list of languages. Written neatly in a sloping hand, the list reflects the current translation projects GoodSeed has in progress. Many of the languages come from areas on the globe where the good news of the Bible is not readily available.

Rusty reviews the list every so often and prays for each project. He is the man overseeing the translation, printing and distribution of resources that help to make the gospel message clear to people who do not know who Jesus is. Translation projects account for sixty percent of the work that GoodSeed does. Within two weeks of the very first publication of The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus in 1996, GoodSeed started receiving requests for translations. It became obvious to the leadership team that a committee would need to oversee the translation process in order to get the tools into the heart languages of people around the world. This is where Rusty stepped in to guide the process.

Since he became the translation coordinator 10 years ago, much of Rusty’s experience has been on-the-job training. He says he’s learned a lot from mistakes. But God’s hand has on been on the ministry and to date, 90 translation projects (including books, audiobooks and videobooks) have been completed, with another 70 in progress, covering 80 different language groups. Rusty sees himself as a connector of dots, bringing those with a deep burden to see the gospel clearly explained in their heart language with those who can translate, print and distribute such materials. None of this work is glamorous nor easy to articulate. But the inroads he makes during his work trips are of great value eternally.

“Almost all of our translation projects have been started by a Christian worker in the field who has personally been impacted by the tools,” Rusty explains. These “champions,” as Rusty calls them, have a strong desire to make the translation a reality, seeing a great need for materials to guide their people to a clear understanding of the gospel. Translation work requires the involvement of many people, but a champion is one who uses his or her influence to make the translation a reality.

It takes only a few minutes of conversation to begin to see how passionate Rusty is about his work. His voice thickens and tears gather in his eyes as he begins to explain about the projects and the people involved. With copious notes that he scribbles in various notebooks that he keeps close at hand, Rusty strives hard to keep abreast of what is going on in the lives of these GoodSeed partners. When asked about a particular project, his gaze becomes distant, as if he’s picturing faces and times spent in sweet fellowship with those in the trenches.

In one such instance, Rusty explains how the Portuguese translation of The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus came about. “That translation started back in 2000 when a missionary in Brazil, Gordon,* came to me and said earnestly, ‘Rusty, we have to get this book into Portuguese right away!’”

Rusty leans forward, his voice halting as he recollects. “Gordon was so keen to get the book into the hands of believers in Brazil,” he recalls. “We really wanted to help, but there were just so many translation projects already underway.” Because of the number of projects already in flight, Rusty warned Gordon that it would be a very, very long time before a Portuguese translation would become a reality.

But Gordon was not easily deterred. “I’ll do everything I can to help. What will it take? Money? Contacts? Let me see what I can do!” In record time, Gordon came through on his offer. A translator was found and began working on the first draft of O Estranho no Caminho de Emaús. And just like that, without any canvassing on GoodSeed’s part, Rusty found he had a champion for the Portuguese Stranger.

However, even with the initial hurdles cleared, a good translation is never a quick process. Rusty explains, “The gospel is the precious message and GoodSeed desires to take the utmost care in presenting it in a way that is clear and communicates to the reader’s heart. We say that our tools are translated so the average taxi driver can read and understand them. They’re meant to flow and sound like a native speaker wrote it—that’s the goal. We also want to make sure that the translation is biblically accurate.”

For instance, when working on the Thai translation of By This Name, the translator initially selected the wrong word for the arrogant pride that Satan displayed when he rebelled against God. The translator had chosen a Thai word for pride that was more akin to a father being proud of his son’s accomplishment. It was a small word but the negative impact on the message was huge.

So how does Rusty’s team check for accuracy? The ministry has a small group of staff who are translation coordinators. Each of them is responsible for a number of translation projects, often grouped by geography. Obviously, the translation coordinators don’t speak all the languages that they work on. Rusty explains that his team must rely on native speakers to do the work. Their job, as coordinators, is to check that the job is being done well. To do so, they employ a linguistic checking method called “Back-to-English” or BTE, for short. As each section of the book is completed, the translation coordinator sits down with a volunteer native speaker who also knows English. The volunteer reads the translated section, and repeats in English what he or she thinks the text is saying. Further questions are asked to see how well the reader understood the content. This process is done with multiple volunteers. Any inconsistencies between the original English text and what is conveyed in the translation are caught and corrected using the BTE approach.

“The whole process is tedious and time-consuming, but it’s well worth the effort, considering this is the most important message people will ever hear,” Rusty shares.

Another important principle in the translation work is that each thought is expressed in the translation in a way that a native speaker will understand. What the translation team wants to avoid is a wooden translation that native speakers find hard to comprehend. This means that translators will have to take the English idioms and other English expressions and find local equivalents. Failure to do so can result in foreign-sounding expressions or worse, phrases and sentences that do not make sense.

Rusty continues explaining the translation process by picking up the story of the Portuguese translation. As this book worked its way through various drafts, Gordon, the champion, tested the drafts by teaching groups through them. At some points, he found himself leading studies up to five nights a week.

During that time, Gordon wrote Rusty, “I continue to be in awe at the power of the gospel… The interest is high… For almost all [of those I’ve taught], studying through The Stranger is the first time in their lives that they have understood the gospel according to the Bible. The impact is no less than the very power of God, saving and securing people in His eternal love, care and grace.”

As the team refined the Portuguese translation, they began looking to the next steps in the process. “Just as it takes key people to create a high-quality translation, it also takes people who step up to the plate to get the tools into the hands of those who will use them to share the gospel,” says Rusty. Each region is different, but in many places, GoodSeed works together with organizations such as New Tribes Mission, Wycliffe, ABWE, TWR, or the in-country Bible society.

An effective distribution plan also means training others how to use the tools. Those who use the tools within their spheres of influence often find that sphere expanding as they begin to teach, with requests for wider teaching coming in as the impact of a clear gospel becomes apparent to those who are watching from a distance. Gordon found himself busy teaching Bible school students, missionaries and believers in churches all over Brazil.

The Portuguese translation team didn’t stop with just The Stranger. They went on to translate the The Stranger workbook, The Lamb book for children, All that the Prophets have Spoken and its accompanying workbook for those from an Islamic worldview. Thanks to the untiring effort of this team, these resources are now available in Portuguese. These tools are not just used in Brazil, but have gone into the hands of Portuguese-speaking people around the world.

The entire process of getting a request and finally putting a printed book into someone’s hands can sometimes take two to four years or even longer. All sorts of problems can stall a project. The translator faces persecution or a family member falls seriously ill. Hostile authorities can cause problems. Computers get damaged or worse, stolen. A Back-to-English process fails. Or a print partner who had been willing to help suddenly goes out of business. There are many pitfalls on the translation journey. But with lots of prayer and with God’s guidance, Rusty and his team doggedly press on. In his mind’s eye, Rusty pictures this scenario over and over again: a man is given a book in his heart language. He cracks the covers open and begins to read a clear explanation of the Bible’s life-giving gospel message. And for the first time in his life, he understands and puts his trust in Jesus for salvation. That scene is what motivates Rusty. He has heard so many stories of people coming to faith in Christ through a GoodSeed tool. He knows that an understood gospel is a powerful gospel—it saves!

Rusty reiterates that his role is nothing more than a “dot connector.” When a translation request first comes in, he often has no idea how it will get done. Where are the translators with the language skills? Who will be the champion? Where will the funds come from? Who will print and distribute? Who will go from church to church and ministry to ministry to let them know a tool will be available? It is God who reveals the people—the dots. And Rusty meets with them and connects them into a chain that will eventually result in a completed tool. Rusty knows that it is nothing short of a miracle each time a translation finally gets into the hands of people. For him and his team, it is a marvel to watch God at work.

To see the GoodSeed tools available for purchase, check our See All Tools page.

(*Names changed as per GoodSeed policy.)