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2theadvocate.com | Features | Translators seek to sign the Word — Baton Rouge, LA
Bible translations aren’t always for the printed word.
More than 10 years ago, Wycliffe Bible Translators began translating the Bible into sign language for the deaf in countries around the world.
“Wycliffe is really committed to having everybody have the language of their heart” for knowing the Bible, said Elizabeth Parks, a missionary with Wycliffe, speaking in Baton Rouge Monday. “God speaks in every language.”
Deaf people are “actually dreaming in sign language; that’s what they’re really communicating in,” she said.
Elizabeth Parks and her husband, Jason Parks, are sign language survey coordinators for the Americas area for Wycliffe.
They spoke here at a banquet as part of a program presented in Baton Rouge and 74 other cities in the country every 18 months by Wycliffe Associates, which recruits volunteers to support the work of Bible translators around the world.
The volunteers may be constructing roads to get to remote areas, doing office work or renovating facilities, according to Wycliffe literature.
The “Let Their Hearts Hear” banquets held every spring and fall throughout the U.S. are educational and give people a chance to volunteer their time, prayers or money, said Noel Davis, Wycliffe Associates south-central area director.
Nearly 60 people attended the event in Baton Rouge.
The Rev. Michael Mack, pastor of the First Baptist Deaf Church on Brightside Drive, attended with members of his congregation.
“There are some deaf missionaries with the Baptist Mission Board. I’m trying to get more information and vice versa,” Mack said, through interpreter Dawn Melendez, who interpreted for the banquet.
“There are more than 400 distinct sign languages, and they develop separately from the spoken language around them,” Elizabeth Parks said.
The sign languages have “totally different grammar and concepts” from the spoken and written language of a country, she said.
In poorer countries of the world, without developed educational systems, the literacy levels among deaf people may be especially lower than that of the general population, Parks said.
To serve them, Wycliffe has created DVDs of sign language translations of portions of the Bible.
“Once they get the DVD, they don’t have to go through an interpreter to access the Bible,” Elizabeth Parks said.
Other electronic media will be used as technology develops, according to Wycliffe literature.
The organization has looked at 3-D animation, for instance, but current hurdles include cost, ease of use and the ability of the animation to portray natural-looking sign language.
At the banquet on Monday, the Parks told of how during the past three-and-a-half years they have traveled to 11 countries, including Colombia, Guatemala, Peru, Chile, Paraguay, Jamaica and Panama.
This year, they also traveled on their first sign-language survey mission outside of the Americas, to Northern Ireland.
On their trips, Elizabeth Parks said, they visit with deaf communities and try to find out “where the sign languages are, who’s using them and what type of language needs they have, which could include Bible translation,” she said.
Then they return to their home north of Denver, Jason Parks said, and put what they’ve learned into written analyses for Wycliffe translators, as well as the communities themselves.
The Orlando, Fla.-based Wycliffe Bible Translators is an interdenominational, nonprofit organization.
Founded in 1942 by William Townsend, a missionary to the Cakchiquel Indians of Guatemala, the organization is named after John Wycliffe, who first translated the Bible into English in 1395.
To date, the Wycliffe Bible Translators have been part of completing more than 700 translations, and hundreds of more are in the works, according to its website, at Wycliffe Bible Translators: World Missions for Unreached People Groups.
Bible translations aren’t always for the printed word.
More than 10 years ago, Wycliffe Bible Translators began translating the Bible into sign language for the deaf in countries around the world.
“Wycliffe is really committed to having everybody have the language of their heart” for knowing the Bible, said Elizabeth Parks, a missionary with Wycliffe, speaking in Baton Rouge Monday. “God speaks in every language.”
Deaf people are “actually dreaming in sign language; that’s what they’re really communicating in,” she said.
Elizabeth Parks and her husband, Jason Parks, are sign language survey coordinators for the Americas area for Wycliffe.
They spoke here at a banquet as part of a program presented in Baton Rouge and 74 other cities in the country every 18 months by Wycliffe Associates, which recruits volunteers to support the work of Bible translators around the world.
The volunteers may be constructing roads to get to remote areas, doing office work or renovating facilities, according to Wycliffe literature.
The “Let Their Hearts Hear” banquets held every spring and fall throughout the U.S. are educational and give people a chance to volunteer their time, prayers or money, said Noel Davis, Wycliffe Associates south-central area director.
Nearly 60 people attended the event in Baton Rouge.
The Rev. Michael Mack, pastor of the First Baptist Deaf Church on Brightside Drive, attended with members of his congregation.
“There are some deaf missionaries with the Baptist Mission Board. I’m trying to get more information and vice versa,” Mack said, through interpreter Dawn Melendez, who interpreted for the banquet.
“There are more than 400 distinct sign languages, and they develop separately from the spoken language around them,” Elizabeth Parks said.
The sign languages have “totally different grammar and concepts” from the spoken and written language of a country, she said.
In poorer countries of the world, without developed educational systems, the literacy levels among deaf people may be especially lower than that of the general population, Parks said.
To serve them, Wycliffe has created DVDs of sign language translations of portions of the Bible.
“Once they get the DVD, they don’t have to go through an interpreter to access the Bible,” Elizabeth Parks said.
Other electronic media will be used as technology develops, according to Wycliffe literature.
The organization has looked at 3-D animation, for instance, but current hurdles include cost, ease of use and the ability of the animation to portray natural-looking sign language.
At the banquet on Monday, the Parks told of how during the past three-and-a-half years they have traveled to 11 countries, including Colombia, Guatemala, Peru, Chile, Paraguay, Jamaica and Panama.
This year, they also traveled on their first sign-language survey mission outside of the Americas, to Northern Ireland.
On their trips, Elizabeth Parks said, they visit with deaf communities and try to find out “where the sign languages are, who’s using them and what type of language needs they have, which could include Bible translation,” she said.
Then they return to their home north of Denver, Jason Parks said, and put what they’ve learned into written analyses for Wycliffe translators, as well as the communities themselves.
The Orlando, Fla.-based Wycliffe Bible Translators is an interdenominational, nonprofit organization.
Founded in 1942 by William Townsend, a missionary to the Cakchiquel Indians of Guatemala, the organization is named after John Wycliffe, who first translated the Bible into English in 1395.
To date, the Wycliffe Bible Translators have been part of completing more than 700 translations, and hundreds of more are in the works, according to its website, at Wycliffe Bible Translators: World Missions for Unreached People Groups.