20191027 Translation ministry

1.        Objectives & functions

1.1.       Translate the preaching for the worshippers not fluent in the language of preaching to comprehend.

1.2.       Assist the preacher adjust the oral expression to cover the worshippers with multiple cultures and languages.

1.3.       Collect and Preserve the scripts of sermon for future references, for future guest preachers and the pastors.

1.4.       Develop human resources for future implementation

1.5.       Develop systems for implementing the tasks and fulfilling the objectives and functions

1.6.       Develop other work from the sermon, such as, Abstract in questions for newsletter before sermon; Abstract in answers for newsletter after sermon; Sermonaids using quiz form for the concurrent or post-worship-service reading; other prose or poem extended from the sermons.

2.        History

2.1.       In the beginning of TPC (FCF)

2.1.1.      Preached in Taiwanese regularly

2.1.2.      preaching in English by the guest preacher – translated intermittently with the involvement of the congregation. It happened from time to time that the congregation was asked to help with the translation by the pulpit translator.

2.1.3.      At Reis Road-when preaching was by the Interim pastor who was a native English speaker the congregational volunteers rotate to study the script ahead of time and implemented interactive translation reading from his or her prepared script.

2.1.4.      At Reis Road - after Pastor Chi was in residence – equipped the radio system for concurrent translation from the office. Sometimes the preaching was translated into two languages at the same time from the pastor’s office and the general office, using FM broadcasting systems. Translators normally listen and translate on-the-fly.

2.1.5.      When English ministry had separate worship service at 11:30 only the Taiwanese sermon was translated into Mandarin on-the-fly, with pastor’s script in Chinese in hand. The translators were limited to the small number of volunteers with occasional rotation. Two-person team was tried sometimes to release the tension, without pre-arranged switching. Usually Tony played the role of the secondary and relieving translator to jump in when the primary translator appears to be nervously struggling

2.1.6.      When the English worship was reduced to once-a-month with combines worship services in most of the Sunday, the Taiwanese sermon was translated into English on the pulpit while translated into Mandarin by Mrs. Chi from the office through radio. Elder Li was expected to recruit translators for paper and radio translation on a weekly basis.

2.1.7.      Deacon Peggy Chan started organizing volunteers into a team of translator and holds meeting to work out a new system that is supposed to expand the functions and effects perpetually.

3.        Lessons learned from the past

3.1.       Principles in paper-translation

3.1.1.      Timing

3.1.1.1.     The person inviting English preacher was expected to ask the preachers to provide the script for paper translation at least one week before the preaching.

3.1.1.2.     The paper translation is expected to be available to the bulletin team and projection team no later than the after on Friday.

3.1.2.      Format in file

3.1.2.1.     Original file for pulpit reading

3.1.2.2.     original file for private reading

3.1.2.3.     Work file with mixed languages in paragraph

3.1.2.4.     Work file with two-column MS-word .doc

3.1.2.5.     Work file with Multi-column spreadsheet, including word-count, timestamp, duration, etc.

3.1.2.6.     print file for radio reading and pew reading

3.1.2.7.     Slide file for projection

3.1.2.8.     Spreadsheet collecting quotable quotes

3.1.2.9.     Spreadsheet collecting Christian idioms

3.1.2.10. Spreadsheet collecting abstracts in question forms for pre-sermon newsletter and the sermonaids

3.1.2.11. Spreadsheet collecting abstracts in answer forms

3.1.3.      word , wording, sentencing

3.1.3.1.     Watch for the proper nouns and idioms by searching the web and lookup the idiom list

3.1.3.2.     Watch for ambiguous words, such as life, love, heart, etc.

3.1.3.3.     Watch for switchable proper nouns. Sometimes the “you” refers to “I, we, or us”.

3.1.3.4.     Sometimes, using the Mandarin idioms might help the listeners feel.

3.1.3.5.     Sometimes, adding extra legs to a serpent might help the listeners comprehend. (Tony always bring this up with the preacher in emailing to make sure the extra legs are not twisting the original meaning.)

3.2.       Principles in oral translation

3.2.1.      Watch the tempo to accommodate listeners of all levels.

3.2.2.      Raise the pitch for clarity of enunciation, avoiding the chest voice.

3.2.3.      “Waiting for the preacher in order to translate after the preacher” is not necessary. On the other hand, read ahead of the preacher at least in the last paragraph because the preacher might rush into the prayer before the translator finish reading.

3.2.4.      In case the preacher added words on-the-fly, it is OK to skip those extra words if they cause problem in translation.

3.2.5.      In case the translator lost track of the preaching, take it easy to read through while watching the original to find where the preaching is.

4.        Current practices:

1.          The preacher works on writing the script verbatim and send the file to the session member leading the worship ministry and the person handling the first conversion, by the end of Tuesday.

2.          The session member pass the file to the involved team, including the bulletin team, the projection team, and the translation team and post the original file to the cloud, for now a google drive.

3.          One of the translation team member would convert the original file, which is for pulpit reading, including large fonts and generous white space, into a smaller file for private reading with smaller fonts and white space.

4.          One of the translation team member would convert the original file into a spreadsheet with one row for each sentence with series number along with Mandarin translated by google, manually or thru a new automated application. The app is developed by Michael Shih voluntarily, might be in service starting next week.

5.          One of the translation team member would post the spreadsheet to the cloud for co-writing among the team members.

6.          One of the translation team member would send out a message to the teammates specifying who works on what group of sentences.

7.          Each member of the team would start translating his or her share by changing the sentences translated by google and post the result to the shared file online. (Tony would work on a copy of that spreadsheet on a desktop or notebook computer and duplicate the sentences in the file on the cloud to let others know the progress.)

8.          Some members of the team might write emails to the preacher to clarify some question by showing the "translation by guessing".

9.          Some member of the team would work beyond his or her share of sentences to cover those not yet touched by others.

10.      Some member of the team would point out questionable translation for discussion and/or revision.

11.      Some member of the team would download the completed spreadsheet and convert it into a ms-word file for proofreading at the same time adjust the format for print on paper.

12.      Some member of the team might extract the quotable sentences and the ones difficult to comprehend by hearing and duplicate them in a slide set.

13.      The slide set would be forwarded to the projection team for further usages.

14.      Some member of the team might extract the special expressions and enter them into the spreadsheet of Christian Idioms for future references.

15.      Some member of the team might extract sentences for usage in the "sermonaid" to be printed out as Church bulletin inserts to help the congregation preview, compare, or review the sermon.

16.      Some member of the team might upload the finalized print copy to the cloud for future references.

17.      Some member of the team might duplicate the finalized print copy on papers to be distributed to those who need them at the church.

18.      The finalized print copy might be distributed in the church newsletter after the sermon is delivered.