A project 27 years in the making has united both Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australians, with the translation of the Bible into Kriol.
The Bible translation from Genesis through to Revelation was undertaken by a group of Aboriginal Christians and missionaries in the Northern Territory with support from organisations such as The Bible Society, Lutheran Bible Translators, The Church Missionary Society of Australia, The Anglican Church Diocese of NT, Australian Society for Indigenous Languages and Wycliffe Bible Translators and will be launched at the Katherine Christian Convention on 5th May 2007.
The Archbishop of Melbourne, Philip Freier, released this statement supporting the translation project:
"It is a great joy to me that the Kriol Baibul, the first full translation of the Bible into an Australian Indigenous language, will be launched at the Katherine Christian Convention 5-6 May 2007. As well as being welcomed by an estimated 30,000 speakers of the Kriol language, it is also a great opportunity for the Australian community to celebrate the survival of Aboriginal language as a living reality in contemporary society.I also welcome and appreciate the work of Indigenous translators, non-Indigenous consultants and translation resource workers as an example of Reconciliation, a practical and lived response to the call to be one in Christ."
Kriol, an Australian Creole language developed out of contact between European settlers and the indigenous people in the northern regions of Australia is presently spoken by 30,000 people across the Top End.
"People are really keen to know all that God's saying to them."says CMS missionary Gwen Tremlett, who has worked on the Kriol project since 1993.
She says a highlight of the work has been "seeing people's faces as they hear God's word read in their own language for the first time."
The Kriol project stalled after the publication of the Kriol New Testament with 14 Old Testament books in 1991, but the Reverend Canon Gumbuli Wurrumara challenged indigenous Kriol speakers in 1993 to complete the project themselves.
Australian Bible Society Translation Consultant Dr Peter Carroll says ,
"Translations into the many Aboriginal languages were complex, as all translations are difficult when you are matching thought patterns with two different cultures."Dr Carroll explains
"In English we use the word heart a lot and we attach to the body part a lot of emotion. We talk of a loving God, one we can love with all our heart, but in the Aboriginal language of Kunwinjku it's meaningless, instead we say that you love God with all your insides or, if you like, your inner being."The Kriol translation will encourage the semantic range of common words such as 'heart' to be examined to discourage cross-cultural miscommunication.
With this momentous project now complete, The Kriol Translation team is hosting a launch on 5th May 2007 in Katherine, Northern Territory.
