Bible translated into Naskapi (fwd)

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10-October-2007 - Bible translated into Naskapi - Canada
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/digest/index.cfm?years=2007&months=10&article=1041&pos=

The Bible’s New Testament is now available in the Naskapi language, the
fruit of 25 years of translation work by Silas Nabinicaboo, a lay reader of
the aboriginal church in Kawawachikamach, diocese of Quebec, and Bill
Jancewicz, an American translator associated with the Wycliffe Bible
Translation Society.

Every household in the community, located near the mining town of
Schefferville, Que., received a copy of the Naskapi New Testament at a
public dedication ceremony held Sept. 16; elders received large print
editions.

‘It’s a wonderful achievement,” said Archbishop Bruce Stavert, who was among
those who attended the ceremony, along with representatives of the Canadian
Bible Society. The Naskapi Nation Development Corporation helped fund the
project.

Archbishop Stavert said the project involved “an elaborate process where
they (translators) consulted with elders” to ensure the accuracy of the
translation.

In the works is a translation for the Old Testament. ‘For the last 15 years
or so, they (translators) have produced translation of the Sunday readings
on the three-year Sunday lectionary that we use, and produce them in
Syllabics and English,’ he said. ‘They’ve done that with Old Testament
readings, so they have a considerable portion of that done.’ The Naskapi
language is similar to northern East-Cree and is almost always written in
syllabics.

‘Even though English is taught in school, and some Naskapi men learned basic
English from trading post managers, English remains a distant second
language’ for the Naskapi people, said the Canadian Bible Society,
explaining the importance of the translation work.

‘Since early contact with the Hudson Bay Company and the (Church of England)
clergy that accompanied them, the Naskapi have embraced the Christian faith.
But the only Scriptures available to them for over a century were translated
into dialects of Cree from near James Bay,’ the Naskapi Nation Development
Corporation said on its Web site.

Article from: Anglican Journal