A wee bit more about where we are living and what SIL do here

First, an picture of the outside of our block.



To get to us, go down the side, round the back and up the stairs. Part of this block is used for administration and part for living quarters. At the front you can see a banner. Let’s see what it says...



Which raises the logical questions "What have SIL spent 40 years doing?" and "Why?"

SIL have been in Cameroon since 1969. Most of their work is the process of getting currently un-written languages into a written format and making literature available. A project with any one language can take around 20 years, depending on how similar it is to languages that are already documented. Along with CABTAL (the Cameroon Association for Bible Translation and Literacy), the end-goal of these projects is a complete translation of the Bible. There are other good things along the way – translations of health literature or agricultural advice.

However, you might be thinking... if Cameroon's official languages are French and English and lots of people are learning these, surely there would be more sense in teaching these groups a majority language?

It's a fair point, though SIL (plus partners) are here at the invite of the national government, who presumably do see the benefit of getting people reading and writing any language. There's also evidence that suggests the process of learning to read and write another language is more effective if you can read and write your own.

Ahhh, so once they do learn French/English there's no need to translate the Bible into 200-or-so minority languages?

Around 25 years ago all the Sunday School kids in our church were invited to the front, to take 2 or 3 large blue books from the pile at the front to give out to each pew. I was one of those kids and the pile of blue books were copies of the New International Version, a modern translation of the Bible. The logic was simple: for all its good points, the 1611 Authorised Version didn't represent the way most people in the congregation used English in 1984.

If I, as a native English speaker, find my ancestor's speech a little confusing and even find myself distracted by 'wrong' spelling in an American Bible, how do non-native speakers of English find things? We have Dutch friends here who, despite really good English, can be a little lost in the language sometimes. So what about someone who only ever has to use English/French occasionally for trade or transport and is safely at home in their native tongue the other 99% of the time?

As for our own use of French, it’s improving – largely because there's no way to get around town or to shop without it. We can follow what's going on in Church and can even understand key phrases in hymns and prayers – Alison more than Clarke! Without the church’s Anglophone translator letting us hear in the language of our own hearts, though, we’d be utterly confused.