Q. There is no
Standard Jamaican
A: Languages do not standardise themselves. The standardisation of any language results from human efforts. Over the years, Bible Translation has helped to develop and standardise many languages. This was the case of English and German.
A: Languages do not standardise themselves. The standardisation of any language results from human efforts. Over the years, Bible Translation has helped to develop and standardise many languages. This was the case of English and German.
Q: Persons Cannot
Read Jamaican
A: Most Jamaicans read and write
Jamaican using a spelling system that makes Jamaican look like
English. Ms Lou’s books are written like that. The Jamaican Creole
Translation Project is promoting a much better way of reading and writing
Jamaican. True, most persons are not yet used to the system. It is for this
reason that the Jamaican Bible will be released pirmarily in audio
format. Wycliffe Bible Translators, Caribbean, is working
on a plan to help persons read Jamaican.
Q: Jamaican is Only Spoken by Jamaicans
A: This is true. But Chinese is only spoken in China,
Turkish is only spoken in Turkey, Moldovan is only spoken
in Moldova, Irish is only spoken in Ireland, Finnish is only spoken in Finland,
Icelandic is only spoken in Iceland, Welsh is only spoken in Wales, etc!
Q: We Should Concentrate on Improving
English in Jamaica
A: In 2009, persons from the University of the West
Indies completed an experiment in some Jamaican primary schools. They wanted to
see how well children learn when school teachers teach them in both Jamaican
and English. The results show that the children who are taught in both
languages do better than those who are taught only in English. This is the
experience of teachers all over the world.
Q: The Jamaican Bible will Cause more
Laughter than Seriousness
A: BSWI and its partners are very serious about what
they are doing. They believe the Bible is a respectable book and
that persons who read or hear it must be able to identify it as a book that is
to be taken seriously. The Bible will be translated with this in
mind. Also, the translation will be tested in locations on the
island before it is published.
Q: The money could be used for more
worthwhile
A: It is important to remember that the mission of
those who are financing the project is to make God’s word available to persons
who do not have it in the language they understand best. WBTC, for
example, cannot provide for all of our society’s needs – no organisation
can. All the churches in Jamaica give spend a lot than $12
million Jamaican dollars on education, medicine, disaster relief, poverty
eradication and so on. Can the church not invest a fraction of
its budget to help its people understand God’s word better?
