Vital SignsDue to lack of accessible Scriptures, the Gospel has been embraced by only about two percent of the world’s 20 million Deaf.by Dwayne Janke; Photography Alan HoodWhen you ask Geoffrey Hunt why Bible translation for the world’s Deaf is so important, he is quick to spell out the facts.
“They’re the last people to hear anything about anything, and that includes spiritual things,” says Hunt, leader of the sign language leadership team for SIL International, Wycliffe’s partner organization. “I’ve heard them described as the most unevangelized group in the world.”
Sadly, he says, the Gospel has been embraced by only about two per cent of the world’s 20 million Deaf (the total population figure Hunt is comfortable using, though estimates vary widely). Lack of accessible Scriptures is a major reason for the spiritual ill health among the Deaf.
But why can’t the Deaf just read the Scriptures in the languages of wider communication of their country: Spanish in Spain or Swahili in Kenya, for example?
“For one thing,” says Hunt, “it’s not their language, so they are having to use a second language, a foreign language, really, in order to understand it.
“Secondly, the words as they are written usually represent sounds. They’ve never heard these sounds. They’ve never heard these words used in context and so it is like learning a set of telephone numbers for each concept. Reading is very hard for the Deaf.”
Deaf children who come through the American school system, for example, on average end up with a Grade 4 reading level in English.
“Now some people make it; the brilliant ones make it. But the Gospel was never intended for just the brilliant ones,” stresses Hunt. “If you go to the New Testament, Jesus was out in the countryside teaching the ordinary people.”
Turning an ear to the deaf
Hunt and his wife Rosemary began their years of service in 1971, among the Hanga [HUNG-ah] of northern Ghana. In 1983, after closely working with local people, the Hanga New Testament was published—the 200th involving Wycliffe and SIL.
Before the Scriptures came, there were no churches or Christians among the then 3,000 to 4,000 Hanga people. Today, the situation is much different.
Hunt, currently living near the Wycliffe U.K. main office at Horsley’s Green in England, points to Josiah, a Hanga fetish priest who found Jesus as Lord and Saviour in the pages of God’s Word in his mother tongue. Today he is a pastor, wanting to build a church that will hold 5,000 people.
“When I see what the Lord has done among the Hanga in Ghana because they have the Scriptures...,” says Hunt, his voice trailing off with emotion.
Hunt’s personal knowledge of the Hanga situation illustrates the potential he envisions for the Word of God among the Deaf—if it was available in their mother tongues, their sign languages.
Unfortunately, the Deaf have been among the last people to be considered for Bible translation. In fact, while Wycliffe has worked among language groups, like the Hanga, for more than seven decades, it has only more recently focused some attention on sign languages.
Many Deaf sign languages only developed within the past several hundred years, says Hunt, as increasing groups of Deaf congregated in sufficient numbers in urban areas. “Sign languages develop where there is a need, and if there is no established sign language there, they will develop one to fill the vacuum.”
These visual, iconic forms of communication are distinct from region to region and country to country.
In the late 19th century, some social engineers and educators in the Western world decided that all Deaf people should be taught to lip read and speak the surrounding oral language they never heard, to integrate them into the hearing world.
“It took about a hundred years for people to really find out that it really doesn’t work,” says Hunt. These kinds of integration efforts have helped create the animosity Deaf people often feel towards domination by the surrounding hearing society.
A bit of history
Wycliffe personnel have been involved in sign language work since the late 1980s, including early research and translation in Mexico, Spain and then Colombia. Starting in the mid-’90s, a sign language emphasis was added to linguistic and translation training courses run by SIL at the University of North Dakota. Survey of sign languages has started in the Americas, Eurasia and Asia. SIL has also begun sign language-related work in partnership with DOOR International, Southern Baptist’s International Missions Board and United Bible Societies.
Officially, SIL’s Ethnologue of the world’s languages lists 121 sign languages… |
About a year ago, a more formal sign language leadership team was created for Wycliffe to give clearer direction to a ramped-up sign language translation effort, currently involving about 50 Wycliffe personnel worldwide.
Included on the leadership team is a key representative from the Deaf community, Stuart Thiessen of DOOR International. Increased Deaf perspective is crucial to the future work, says Hunt. “As an international group, we want to be able to make strategic decisions.”
230 and counting
Today, sign languages have a growing profile in Wycliffe efforts to see every language receive a Bible translation that needs one. But how many sign languages are there?
Officially, SIL’s Ethnologue of the world’s languages lists 121 sign languages. But that falls well short of what the sign language team anticipates will be added in future editions after more research.
“We’re expecting quite a few more,” Hunt says. “We know of about 230 at the moment and we are expecting over 400 in total.”
Hunt says every nation seems to have an average of two sign languages—probably a conservative number.
To clarify the number of sign languages, plenty of language survey is needed. So far, SIL has three surveyors in the Americas, one in Africa and two in Asia (including a Canadian). Another one is coming on board to do survey in the Pacific. She is from Sweden, the first Deaf member in Wycliffe.
Other Deaf members are in the application pipeline preparing to join the team in various sign language-related roles. It is challenging, however, to make a large, hearing-based organization like Wycliffe “Deaf friendly,” says Hunt. It may be best to second these workers to Deaf-run agencies, such as DOOR International. “We’ve got to find the right way to empower the Deaf.”
Wycliffe could use 30 couples and/or individuals in a fairly short time. This includes hearing personnel who Hunt says must know a sign language “really fluently” and have exposure to the Deaf as a basis to succeed on the field.
“We need people in a whole range of services. We need people who . . . are going to be able to work with Deaf groups, to empower them to do their translation,” says Hunt. “We need people that can coordinate so the Deaf are the leaders of the projects but the hearing people are there to support what the Deaf want to see happen.”
This will include providing administration and getting resources for sign language projects, such as: funding, translation materials, training and translation consultants. It is estimated that the worldwide effort will need at least 50 Bible translation consultants to specifically check work done in sign language.
3D solutions
Beyond getting personnel, there is the challenge of how to present translated Scriptures in sign language, says Hunt. While the stages in sign language Bible translation are generally similar to those for spoken languages—drafting, exegetical work, community testing, and consultant checks—the formats are different.
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Geoffrey Hunt, leader of the sign language leadership team for SIL International, Wycliffe’s key partner organization, views an early example of 3D sign language animation. Animation is an important emerging technology for presenting Bible translations in sign language for the world’s Deaf. |
Text in translations for spoken/written languages can easily be changed on a computer screen. However, sign language translations ultimately must be done on video, explains Hunt.
Correcting and editing such a presentation is time consuming and technically difficult.
In addition, some videotaped signers who present translated Scriptures may not be accepted by all Christian Deaf groups (Protestant vs. Catholic, for example). Other Deaf signers, living in countries with sensitive political or religious situations, do not want to be pictured for fear of suffering persecution.
To deal with these technical and social challenges, a team at JAARS, Wycliffe’s technical arm, has been asked to create special software used with inexpensive equipment. It will visually capture the movements of Deaf persons signing Bible translations and transfer them into 3D animated characters.
“We want this to be a tool that anybody in a Deaf community can use,” says Hunt.
Not an accident
Ultimately, though, Bible translation in sign language is about more than techniques and strategies. It’s about providing Scriptures to help the Deaf understand the special place that God holds for them in His heart. Hunt points to two specific Bible passages.
One is the account in Exodus, when God tells Moses at the burning bush: “Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute?” (Exodus 4:11 NIV).
“For the Deaf,” says Hunt, “it is so important for them to know that God made them, to realize that they weren’t just an accident.”
The second passage is Jesus’ healing of the Deaf man in the New Testament (Mark 7:31-35). Christ took the man aside by himself, a unique approach among all of Christ’s miracles performed on people.
“One—Jesus had time for the Deaf person. That’s very important,” explains Hunt. “Two—he took him away from the crowd. When Deaf people are among crowds, they are really confused. It is important that they can come away and be separate.
“These two stories give the Deaf a sense of value. They are valued people.”
And if God values the Deaf, He certainly wants to speak to them in their heart language.
Dwayne Janke is the editor of Word Alive magazine.
Originally published in Word Alive, Summer 2009.
Used with permission. Copyright © 2009 Christianity.ca.
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