The Danger of Relying on the Translator

Sulad Jhun Cardeinte

“For if the trumpet gives an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air.” 1 Cor. 14:8, 9

To communicate the gospel effectively we must not let the locals understand us but rather we must understand them by learning their own language.
There are non-English speaking countries which some people can speak English. But it wasn’t complete, they have their mother tongue and so often times when they express themselves in English it couldn’t represent their real feeling and emotion.

Mistakes would not be avoided if you asked one of the locals to translate your sermon. Depending on the ability of the translator but by experience, I learned later on that out of 100% only about 40 to 45 % is being communicated. This means without taking time to acquire the local language we will not like to reach our goal to reach the unreach. But most alarming here is that the limited translator expresses what he understands and believes, though he is trying to represent you.
It is not bad to have translator at the start while doing the friendship evangelism. But as our ministry started to mature and so we move on to present the unique doctrine of salvation as their understanding progresses.

In that critical stage, though the first thing we should consider to a translator is his language ability, there is danger of relying on him (translator) since what he usually expresses is his view about certain things. This involves his spiritual experience in the past.

Evangelists who do not take time to learn the language are often misrepresented by their limited translators. We can read a lot on the internet about the huge number of baptism after the almost a month evangelistic meeting of a well-known evangelist. But do you think they have the biggest part of the success? No. Because oftentimes when they arrived at the evangelistic meeting place everything is ready and candidates for baptisms were already finish their Bible study at their respective homes. Believe me, those were actually the faithful and untiring effort of the local laymen. Well, we can excuse the visiting evangelists and missionaries but language acquisition should be one of the first priorities of the long term missionaries.