“Go, Gason!”

by Yvonne Blake and Troy Manning

The Haitian Creole Old Testament translation workshop on June 8-18, 2010, was a truly international event. Dr. Troy Manning, Chief Language Consultant, was the only American at the workshop. Dr. Hantz Bernard, Director of Bibles International, and the national translator, Daniel Telfort, represented Haiti. Justin Hickey, a consultant intern, grew up in Brazil as a missionary kid. Dr. Hye Ree Park, a volunteer consultant, added a Korean flavor to the workshop.

This convergence of international personnel was possible because the workshop was held at the home office once again (it was in the home office last summer too). This plan worked well especially considering the crippled condition of Haiti at present due to the January earthquake.

The workshop was also multi-lingual. The Haitian Creole translation was put into French so that the consultants could check it. The discussions were in English, intermingled with French. Dr. Bernard and Daniel would sometimes have to enter into a “private” discussion in Haitian Creole. The rest learned some of the language as they went. Dr. Park coined a phrase, “Go, gason!” modeled after the English slang expression “Go, girl!” except that “gason” is the Creole word for “guy.” She would pull it out when she wanted to encourage Daniel to keep up the good work.

Because approximately 75% of Haitian Creole vocabulary originates from French, there is a tendency to consider any French word as a potential Creole word. But as with other Haitians, Dr. Bernard and Daniel want to preserve the integrity of their language, so they would sometimes get into extended discussions about whether a word was French or Creole. The discussion would often begin with the words, “We can’t use that expression. It’s too Frenchy!”

Selected verses in Genesis 6 (from the last workshop) were checked first. The team also completed the check of Genesis 7-20 and Psalm 11-24. One issue that required a separate study was Moses’ use of the categories for animal words: land creatures, animals (wild/domestic), creeping creatures, swarming creatures, birds, aquatic creatures, etc. Since certain Hebrew words can refer to different categories, depending on the context, Dr. Park had to isolate these words in a separate study to determine how best to translate them.

An issue that arose in the Psalms concerned the word “bridegroom” in Psalm 19:4. The Hebrew term speaks of a newly married man who emerges from the bridal canopy just after the pronouncement of marriage. Just as he emerges beaming with joy at the beginning of a new life with his bride, so the sun breaks forth with radiance at the dawning of each new day. The translator originally used “mesye marye” (“married man”) for the verse, but we were concerned since this expression does not limit it to a man who has just married. We considered the possibility of trying to give more specifics by adding descriptors, but that lengthening would have detracted from the succinctness of the poetry, which is part of the beauty of poetry. In the end we realized that the New Testament, which was finished around 10 years ago, had already solved the problem. “Lemarye” is the Creole equivalent of “bridegroom” in English. The Old Testament translation is much easier when we take advantage of what we already did in the New Testament!

The translation team will probably give high priority to the Psalms, since the translator believes that the Haitians will want a copy of this book in their hands as soon as possible, considering its value in church worship. In about three years, they should be able to print a trial edition.

The Haitian team planned another workshop for the end of the year. Because of national elections in Haiti during the same time period, that workshop will also take place at the home office. They hope to complete Genesis and Psalms 26-54, and as much of Exodus as possible. If Daniel can complete all of this work, the project will be back on track to finish the Old Testament by 2020. Go, gason!