Supporting translation remotely

Ross and Lyndal Webb are Wycliffe Australia members who currently serve as Regional Representatives for the Sydney area. They may be based in Australia now, yet the Webbs have been supporting language work and Scripture engagement in Vanuatu for many years. They developed the Trenem Tingting Course to help ni-Vanuatu leaders grow in critical thinking and application of the Bible in everyday life. Since returning to Australia, the Webbs share how they are able to continue supporting language workers remotely.  

The advances of technology have made working ‘remotely’ possible. Over the last 12 months or so, Ross has been working online from Sydney with Robert, Georgie and Loui–all men of Vanuatu located in the capital of Port Vila. 

A series of Bible stories were translated some time back into Bislama (Vanuatu’s language of wider communication), with the aim of being used for Sunday School materials as well as being translatable into other Vanuatu languages. Each story needs to be accurate of course, yet they also need to sound just right so that they are both understandable and attractive to the readers! These men have been great at spotting problems.

Working remotely does have its limitations so we are planning to head to Vanuatu in June for a few months of real, live, face-to-face work! As a translation consultant, Ross will check some of the work done on Scripture for the Merei language. We will both put more time into helping the trainers to move ahead in their confidence to teach at the Trenem Tingting Course and look forward to offering a hand to a new translation team! Catching up with friends on Epi island where we lived for a few years is up there on the priority list too. We thank God for the ongoing support of everyone who has partnered with us to help advance Bible translation in Vanuatu.