Watch Your Tone!

In the summer of 2010, our family was at the University of North Dakota, where I (Adam) was taking my first round of linguistics courses to prepare for Bible translation work. Overall I did well in the coursework, bu there was one quiz in my Phonetics class that I completely bombed. That quiz was on tone. I had to listen to different words being pronounced and then say whether the tone was rising or falling or high or low or level, and so on and so forth. Throughout high school, college, and graduate school, I don't think I ever did as poorly on a quiz as I did on this one. I just could not hear the differences. (Those who have heard me sing are probably not surprised that I did not do well on the quiz!) And I thought to myself, “I sure hope that I do not end up working in a tonal language.”

Well, the hope that I would not work in a tonal language was shattered when I agreed to work with Enga (although my hope was not shattered completely). Enga is a tonal language, but its tonal system is not quite as complicated as a language like Mandarin. Mandarin has four tones (level high pitch, rising, falling then rising, and falling), and each syllable of a word has one of those tones. So, in Mandarin, tone is associated with the syllable. In Enga, tone is associated with the word, not the syllable. Each word has its own tonal pattern, and there are only three main patterns: level, falling, and peaking (that is, rising then falling). This makes life a lot easier on a tonally-challenged person like me. I still have difficultly hearing the differences, but thankfully I can record Enga speakers and then use software to chart the pitch and see what is happening.

A graph of the level-tone word “yuu” (ground)

Now for a language to be considered tonal, a word's meaning has to be affected by the tone. This means that you can have the same letters in a word, but the tone with which those letters are pronounced changes the meaning. For example, the word dii in Enga changes meaning depending on the tone. If dii is pronounced with a level tone it means fruit. If dii is pronounced with a falling tone it is the command give. If dii is pronounced with a peaking tone it means you gave. So, to communicate correctly, you must pronounce each word with the correct tone. This is particularly important for some words. For example, when the word kenge is pronounced with a falling tone, it means name. But when it is pronounced with a level tone, it means buttocks. So, you have to be very careful when you are introducing yourself to someone and saying, “My name is…” Otherwise you might inadvertently be telling people what your buttocks is called, which would be quite embarrassing (not to mention strange)!

A graph of the falling-tone word “kenge” (name)

While a foreigner like me often has difficulty remembering which tone pattern to use for each word, it comes quite naturally to Enga speakers. As we translate the Enga New Testament, we do not mark the words for tone, because ninety-nine percent of the time, the context is sufficient for determining which word is intended. When context is not sufficient, we can usually figure out another way to say the same thing to avoid confusion. The only case that consistently causes problems is the phrase epena lao, which can mean tell to come or say it is good. There is no good work around for that, and when we record the Enga New Testament next year, we will have to be sure that we are always pronouncing the word epena with the correct tone.

A graph of the peaking-tone word “akali”  (man)

You can see from the graphs above that the tone patterns are not perfect. In other words, the level tone is not perfectly level, and the falling tone does not fall at a perfect angle, and the peaking tone does not rise and fall at a perfect angle or with perfect symmetry. Nevertheless, the three patterns are clearly distinct.

So, do you think that you can do better on a tone quiz than I did in my Phonetics class at the University of North Dakota? I have prepared a short video for you so that you can test your skills. Click on the video below to take a very short video quiz in which you will hear three different Enga words. You will hear each word three times, and you will have to decide if it is level tone, falling tone, or peaking tone. After you hear each of the words three times, you will then hear the words again while also seeing the graph of the tone as well as the answer telling you which tone it is. Click below to give it a try.

Well, hopefully you did better than I did on my tone quiz. Please pray that God will use this tonally-challenged person to use the right tone of voice as I communicate with the Enga people.

More Engan Proverbs

Earlier this year I was working with the Enga translation team in the conference room of the Enga Cultural Center. This conference room is a beautiful environment with many Engan proverbs printed on the wall. In our February 2018 newsletter, I shared many of those proverbs with you, and I thought you might enjoy reading about a few more.

Carry both a short and a long shield.
The lesson of this proverb is to be prepared for whatever may come. Sometimes in battle you might need a short shield, and sometimes you might need a long shield, so carry both. In a wider sense it speaks to the importance of having both a short-term and a long-term plan and being ready for any possible contingencies that may arise. This proverb is similar to Miguel Cervantes’ quote: “To be prepared is half the victory.”

Carry both a short and a long shield

Eagles seek high, open treetops.
This proverb offers a reflection on life. Unlike smaller birds that can perch just about anywhere, eagles can only perch on large tree tops that are clear of small branches and leaves. In the same way, those who are rich and famous seek high places to perch and associate only with others who are rich and famous. They do not seek lower branches where they would have to associate with lowly people. This seems to be an accurate description of life on this earth. (When was the last time a movie star stopped by your house for coffee?) The truth of this proverb makes what Jesus did all the more incredible. Philippians 2:5-8 says,

For let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being made in the likeness of humans. And being found in appearance as a human, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

Thankfully God is not seeking to perch only on high, open treetops. Rather he humbles himself so that he can seek relationships with everyone, especially the lowly.

Eagles seek high, open treetops

A drop of dew on a taro leaf.
This proverb compares the fragility of life and the fragility of relationships to a drop of dew on a taro leaf. When there is a drop of dew on a taro leaf, the slightest movement will make it roll off. Taro leaves do not absorb water, and so a drop of dew that is sitting on a taro leaf is not in a stable condition. Life and relationships are the same way. Relationships are very fragile and one wrong word or one wrong action can destroy a relationship. Children are also fragile, and so parents must be careful in how they raise them. Life itself is also fragile and can be destroyed just as quickly as a drop of dew can slide off of a taro leaf. This proverb is reminiscent of James 4:14, which says, “What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.”

A drop of dew on a taro leaf

Do not wear fresh cordyline leaves when someone is mourning.
Cordyline is a woody, grass-like plant that has a strong, flexible stem and bright red leaves. In the past, people in many Papua New Guinean cultures wore cordyline leaves around their waist. But if a person were to wear fresh cordyline leaves during a time of mourning, it would be interpreted as a joyous act of celebration, which would be insensitive toward those who were mourning. Therefore, when people are mourning, fresh cordyline leaves should not be worn. This is reminiscent of the Apostle Paul’s injunction in Romans 12:15 to “weep with those who weep.” When someone is going through a period of mourning, we don’t want to be joyous around them. Rather we want to be sensitive to their pain and experience their sorrow together with them.

But this Engan proverb may have a darker meaning as well. In traditional Enga culture, the spirit of a recently deceased person is considered to be quite dangerous. So if you were to express joy at a person’s death by wearing fresh cordyline leaves, the spirit of that person might very well “bite” you and cause you to die. Not only that, but if you express joy when a person has died, you may be accused of having practiced magic or sorcery to bring about that person’s death.

I remember being in the village of Immi among the Dyuapini tribe when a person from that tribe had died. One day I was with a couple of men from the village, and we were nowhere near the place of mourning. While we were talking I happened to say something funny that made them laugh. They then told me not to say anything that might make them laugh because it was inappropriate to laugh during a time when one of the members of their tribe had died. I was inadvertently wearing fresh cordyline leaves!

Do not wear fresh cordyline leaves when someone is mourning

A male pig cannot get pregnant.
The lesson of this proverb is to not waste time on fruitless efforts. There are certain activities that are doomed to failure, no matter how much effort you put forth. So focus your time and efforts on activities that are possible to achieve. This proverb reminds me a bit of Proverbs 1:17, which says, “In vain is a net spread in the sight of any bird.” If a bird sees you spreading a net, it is not going to get caught in your trap.

A male pig cannot get pregnant

I am thankful for the conventional wisdom of the Enga people, which God gave them in times past as a tutor pointing them to Christ, much like God gave the Israelites the Law of Moses to point them to Christ. My prayer is that the people of Enga would embrace those aspects of their traditional culture that provide practical guidance as to what it means to follow Christ, while rejecting those aspects of their traditional culture that lead them away from Christ. In the same way, I pray that the people of Enga would embrace the aspects of Western culture that lead them to Christ, while rejecting the aspects of Western culture that lead them away from Christ.

Back in Enga

Over the past few months we have been asking you to pray that God might make a way for us to return to Enga Province, and we are pleased to report that God has answered your prayers (and ours). We are now back in the village of Immi! Although I (Adam) was able to make a brief trip back in February, this is the first time that Martha and the kids have been back in Enga for more than two years due first to our furlough and then Coronavirus travel restrictions. We praise God that we have finally been able to return together as a family.

The kids are on school break right now, and so they are enjoying some down time by playing games, going to the river, and spending time with their village brothers Lami and Sani, and their new village sister Samila. In the past, Martha would homeschool the kids when were in the village, but now she also gets a bit of a break (although she is also using this time to plan for the upcoming school year as she will be teaching sixth, seventh, and eighth grade English).

As always, it has taken a little bit of time to adjust to life in the village. This time out, we discovered that the batteries for our solar electrical system were really starting to get old and not hold a charge well. So the first night here, we were in the dark with no matches or flashlights (except the ones on our phones). But we figured out how to tweak the system to get the lights to stay on longer at night. We also have had no rain for our first ten days here (although it is raining as I type this). Our house water supply is 100% dependent upon rainfall, and so we have had to preserve water by bathing in the river instead of taking showers. Although the water in the local stream is quite cold, it is also quite refreshing as well, and so bathing in the stream is not so bad. On top of water and power issues, our fridge was not working at all when we arrived, which caused a bit of concern until we realized that the dial that regulates how cold the fridge gets was completely turned off!

The kids back in Enga with their village brothers Lami and Sani and sister Samila

Translation Progress
During our first week in the village we were able to complete the face-to-face portion of the consultant check for Revelation. We are now working through the book of Romans. Although Romans is fairly a difficult book, the message seems to be coming through quite clearly in Enga (although we are making a few adjustments here and there). After finishing Romans we hope to continue on with one of the other Pauline epistles that will still have to check face-to-face. Because we have been able to resume face-to-face checking, we continue drawing closer to completing the New Testament. Lord willing, we hope to have the New Testament recorded, printed, and ready for distribution next fall (after the national elections). Please pray that nothing will hinder our progress. It seems that Satan is already at work to prevent the completion of this project with tribal fighting erupting in the village of two of our translators and some other challenges as well, so we need your prayers!

Bella with her village sister Samila

Storying
During our time in the village, Martha has been very intentional about making sure we spend time in the market area outside our house and “story” with people. So we have been going outside late in the afternoon and just talking with people. It is not uncommon for us to start talking to one person only to find that, within the span of a few minutes, we are surrounded by thirty or forty people. People have been telling us over and over again that they were very concerned that we had died in America due to Coronavirus (which would explain our long absence in their minds). We also had an interesting conversation about the Coronavirus vaccine (AstraZeneca). There are all sorts of rumors circulating in Papua New Guinea about the vaccine. One of the rumors is that the vaccine magnetizes your arm. One of the leading men in the village asked me if that rumor was true. So I told him that I myself had received the vaccine, and then I asked him if he had a coin. So he quickly got a coin and I rolled up my sleeve and told him to hold the coin up to my arm at the spot where I had received the injection. Then I told him to let it go, and as soon as he did the coin of course fell to the ground, thus dispelling the rumor about the vaccine magnetizing the arms of those who receive it. From there we were able to discuss more practical information about Coronavirus and who is most at risk of complications, so all in all it turned out to be a beneficial conversation.

Final Check of 14 Books

Last month I reported that we were “starting to finish” the Enga New Testament. This month I am happy to announce that the Enga translators are doing their final read through of fourteen New Testament books. Assisting them in this final check is Benjamin Leo, the man who owns the land where we built our house. Benjamin is providing input as someone who has not been involved in the translation process and who has no formal education. His background puts him in a perfect position to help us identify any aspects of the translation that might be difficult for the average person in the village to understand. The books included in this final check are 1 Thessalonians through Jude. Once this check is complete, these books will be considered finalized and ready for audio recording. Please pray that the translators and Benjamin will find anything that needs to be corrected and that the final edits of these books will give us a translation that is accurate, clear, natural, and acceptable, which are the four translation goals that we aim for. By the way, the translators are currently working out of our house in the village of Immi, where they are spending the night during the week to reduce the number of times they use public transportation. This is to reduce their potential exposure to COVID.

While the translators are doing their final check of these 14 books, I am doing my final check of the book of Matthew, which includes verifying that the parallel passages in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are the same where the Greek is the same and different where the Greek is different. I am now halfway through Matthew, so please pray for endurance for me to finish the task. Once I finish my final check of Matthew, the final checks for Mark, Luke, and John should be much easier and faster because I will have already checked most of the parallel passages.

The translation team doing their final check of 14 books

Vaccinated
On Friday Martha and I both received our first dose of the COVID vaccine. We were quite surprised that we were able to get vaccinated here in Papua New Guinea so soon. Australia has donated a large number of vaccines to Papua New Guinea, and our clinic on the center where we live was the recipient of a number of doses, which were then made available to the local community. Because Martha is a teacher and because I have asthma, we were given priority to receive the vaccine. Honestly we were anticipating not being able to get vaccinated for many more months, but we are thankful that we now have an added layer of protection as we plan to head to the village for three weeks later this month during the school break. During our upcoming trip, I hope to do the face-to-face portion of the consultant check for some of the eight books for which this check has not yet been completed. Please pray that the consultant checking will go well.

Receiving my first shot of the COVID vaccine

Starting to Finish

This past week I finished my final read through of 1-2 Thessalonians in the Enga New Testament, and for all intents and purposes those two books are now completely finished! And it shouldn't be long before we add a number of other books to that category. It feels so good that we are now starting to finish the Enga New Testament!

Sometimes Bible translation work can feel like a never-ending series of revisions. No matter how much editing you've done, it always feels like there is more to do. The translation team and I have written countless project notes, suggesting potential improvements or corrections to the translation. Actually, it is inaccurate to say countless, because I just checked, and the total number of project notes that we have written thus far is 30,359. Of that number we have only 189 that are left to resolve (although I have no doubt that we will write even more project notes in the coming weeks and months). To put that number of 30,359 in perspective, consider the fact that there are about 7,957 verses in the New Testament (depending on which version you look at). That means that on average we have written and processed nearly four project notes for every verse of the New Testament! 

Enga translators Reuben, Nete, and Frank reviewing project notes at the Enga Cultural Center

Not only that, but this month we finished the last work of major revision. Inevitably, as a team develops in their aptitude for translation, they return to the first books they translated and realize that they need major revision. That has certainly been the case with Enga. We had already done a major revision of Matthew and Mark, and the last book standing in our way was Luke. Now, the average chapter of a New Testament book has 30 verses, but the average chapter in Luke has 48 verses. Not only that but in terms of total verses and total word count, Luke is the longest book in the New Testament. And as I worked my way through each verse, I found that a large number of verses needed major adjustment. So it was with a great sense of joy and accomplishment that I wrote my last project note in Luke on April 15, and it is with even greater joy that I tell you that all but two of the 4,644 project notes written in Luke have now been resolved!

It feels like everything is starting to come together now and we are really starting to get close to the finish line. However, although we are starting to finish the Enga New Testament, the Coronavirus pandemic is Papua New Guinea is not starting to finish. Rather, it seems like it is just getting started: this month and last month the government issued new restrictions. One of the restrictions currently in place bans inter-provincial travel, and so we cannot complete the face-to-face portion of the consultant checking process for the remaining eight books that need it until that restriction is lifted. So please pray that the current surge in the Coronavirus pandemic here in Papua New Guinea would reverse course and pray that those restrictions can soon be lifted so that we can not only start finishing the Enga New Testament but finish finishing it.

Take Peduncle

During my most recent trip to Enga, I was working with the team on the Greek word that is often translated as ‘betray’ in English, but is more properly ‘hand over’ or ‘deliver up’. The Enga term we had been using was one that I had always had difficulty understanding. It was a two-word phrase, and I knew that the first word meant ‘take’, but I had always struggled to figure out what the second word ‘enge’ actually meant.

I came to find out that ‘enge’ actually means ‘peduncle’, which is a botanical term that means ‘the stalk bearing a flower or fruit’ (see the picture below), and particularly the peduncle of a banana plant. You can imagine that I had trouble seeing how ‘take peduncle’ could have anything to do with ‘hand over’, ‘deliver up’, or ‘betray’. But as the translation team and I discussed it further, the team explained that it was an idiom of sorts. You see, in the past, if someone were to steal a bunch of bananas that were growing in your garden, they would cut off the bananas and leave the peduncle hanging there. So the person whose bananas were stolen would take the peduncle as proof of the theft and give it to someone as a sign that he wished to have the thief killed. In common English terms, ‘take peduncle’ means ‘hire a hitman’ or ‘arrange a murder’, particularly one that would be carried out through trickery or deception.

As odd as that idiom seemed to me, it was certainly helpful in evaluating whether or not we had the right translation of ‘hand over’, ‘deliver up’, or ‘betray’. In Enga we were literally saying, “Judas took peduncle Jesus.” Based on the team’s explanation, I saw that our translation was incorrect because Judas did not hire a hitman to kill Jesus; rather, Judas himself received money to facilitate Jesus’ death. If anything, the Jewish leaders “took peduncle” Judas. Having discovered this mistranslation, we are now in the process of correcting it throughout the New Testament. 

The peduncle of a banana plant in our neighbor's yard in Immi village

Translation Progress
During my recent trip to Enga, in addition to refining our translation of ‘betray’, I was also able to complete the face-to-face portion of the consultant check for 1 Peter and 2 Peter. The team and I had already worked through the books remotely with a consultant who lives in America, but the last part of the consultant check is a face-to-face read-through of each book verse-by-verse, in which I ask comprehension questions to ensure proper understanding. The two men who came to check the books understood the translation quite well, and we only had to make minor adjustments here and there. We have also completed the remote checking for all the remaining New Testament books. All that is left to be done is the face-to-face read-through for Romans, 1-2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Revelation, which we hope to complete in the next few months, contingent upon new COVID-19 travel restrictions.

The men involved in the consultant check of 1-2 Peter

COVID
Speaking of COVID, until very recently, Papua New Guinea continued to register very few infections, but over the last couple of months, the number of infections and hospitalizations have been rising. As a result, tighter restrictions have been implemented by the government, limiting travel to other provinces to essential purposes only. While Bible translation does fall under the category of essential business travel, we will probably not return to our village house until the current surge of COVID cases in Papua New Guinea reverses, especially since when we are in the ‘village’, we are actually closer to highly populated areas and have a much more difficult time maintaining social distance. Please pray that the current surge will soon reverse its trajectory and that we will be able to travel to the village during the school break in June and July.

Teaching
Due to a shortage of teachers, in January Martha began teaching English for grades 6 and 7 at the Ukarumpa International School. It is her first time back in the classroom in fifteen years, and she is really enjoying teaching again. Please pray that more teachers would come as teacher shortages are a perennial problem here. And if you yourself are a teacher, we invite you to consider coming to Papua New Guinea and using your teaching skills to help the Bible translation community here. We sure could use your help!

Neither Singular nor Plural

In English we are used to the idea that nouns are either singular (‘cat’, ‘dog’, ‘man’, ‘tree’, etc.) or plural (‘cats’, ‘dogs’, ‘men’, ‘trees’, etc.) Our language has taught us to refer to things in our environment as either one or many. But in the Enga language, nouns are neither singular nor plural; they are conceptual. What do I mean by that? Well, let me explain it by quoting Psalm 8:4, which says, “What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?” In this case, even though the word ‘man’ is technically singular, it does not refer to only one man. Rather it refers to the concept of man, or humanity. Similarly, although ‘son of man’ is singular, again it does not refer to just one person, but to humanity as a whole (although, in this case, it also hints at Jesus, who referred to himself as the ‘Son of Man’). The way ‘man’ and ‘son of man’ are used in Psalm 8:4 is a good description of Enga nouns in general. They are neither singular nor plural, but conceptual. 

If that’s the case, how do we ever tell the difference between singular and plural in Enga? The answer is that the word ‘the’ in Enga can be singular or plural. Now in English the word ‘the’ does not tell us whether a noun is singular or plural; it is the form of the noun itself that tells us if it is singular or plural. For example, we know that ‘the cat’ is singular and ‘the cats’ is plural. But in Enga, it is the article that tells us if the noun is singular or plural. It would be like saying ‘the cat’ or ‘thes cat’ (if we were to invent the word ‘thes’ as the plural of ‘the’). It is only by the article that we know whether or not a noun is singular or plural. Without an article (or a determiner like ‘this’, ‘that’, ‘these’, ‘those’), the noun is purely conceptual. 

But Enga has an additional feature that English does not formally have, and that is what is called ‘dual’. You see Enga does not separate only into singular or plural; Enga has an additional category for exactly two nouns, which is called ‘dual’. So in Enga we can say ‘the cat’ ‘the-two cat’ and ‘thes cat’. Now the hardest things to learn in a foreign language are the distinctions in that language that your own language doesn’t make. In English we do not distinguish between dual and plural, and so it is quite difficult for me to remember to use dual forms instead of plural forms (just like it is difficult for Engans to remember the difference between ‘he’ and ‘she’ because in Enga the same word is used for both). Interestingly the dual form is also used to indicate a small amount of something, particularly something that cannot be counted. For example, in Matthew 13:33 the Enga translation reads, “The kingdom of heaven is like a woman who took a couple of yeast and mixed it into three flour bags, and the yeast spread throughout all the flour and it grew big.” It is not that the woman took two grains of yeast only, but that she took a small amount of yeast.
 

Is heaven singular, dual, or plural?

In translation, sometimes is helpful to have conceptual nouns rather than singular or plural nouns. Take the word ‘heaven’ for example. What many people do not know is that the term ‘the kingdom of heaven’ is literally ‘the kingdom of the heavens’. (And to make matters even more complicated, in Hebrew ‘heaven’ is a dual noun: ‘two heavens’.) Now it can be odd for us to think of ‘heaven’ (or ‘sky’) as being more than one, but that is certainly the biblical concept. For example, in 2 Corinthians 12:2, Paul talks about being “caught up to the third heaven.” So the English translation ‘the kingdom of heaven’ is a slight mistranslation that should more properly be ‘the kingdom of the heavens’. But in Enga, we don’t have to worry about whether to write ‘heaven’ or ‘two heavens’ or ‘heavens’ because we can just leave off the definite article so that the word ‘heaven’ is conceptual rather than singular or dual or plural, which may actually be a better representation anyway since ‘the kingdom of the heavens’ refers not so much to a physical kingdom in a physical location, but to the concept of the reign of God. 

Well, hopefully this short explanation has given you just ‘a couple of’ knowledge (to speak in an Engan manner) into how languages work and some of the things we need to take into consideration in the translation process.