Eyes to See, Ears to Hear

Archive for the ‘Nyakyusa’ Category

Cassette copies of Ruth and Jonah in the Nyakyusa language ready to be distributed.

That’s the ping pong match going back and forth in me right now.

On one hand, I’m excited that 55 cassettes were taken by 5 different Nyakyusa pastors today.  It is progress.  It is God’s Word going out in a form that makes it accessible to more people.  It is an accomplishment that I should be ecstatic about, right??

Then… the other.  Man, I’ve busted my rear getting to this point.  And yet, there are now only 55 cassettes in circulation in a language group that’s three-quarters of a million people.  That discourages me.

I’m happy-sad or am I sad-happy?  I don’t know.  I guess I’m just internally processing more and more experiences as they come in my life and work here.  This is, after all, only the second language to have scripture audio distributed in it.  How can I have expectations on something that is still so young to me?

I can say that right now is probably the most exciting time work-wise since I started in the language project well over a year ago.  I’ve got nine completely recorded audio books of the Bible, not counting the two books already released in the Sangu language.  NINE!!!  Wow.  Ruth and Jonah make up eight of them in the following four languages: Kinga, Nyakyusa, Malila and Vwanji.  Nyakyusa will be distributed on Sept 17.  Malila will be community tested with a group of pastors on Sept 18.  Kinga may be tested next month.  Vwanji will be distributed next month.

The ninth book has been and is remaining the biggest task… The Gospel of Mark in the Vwanji language.  It is the first language to get this gospel and a big celebration/dedication is planned for the end of October up in a Vwanji village.  I’m taking the generator and the big speakers to play the gospel to the Vwanji people in the language they understand the best… their own.  Most Excited.  Me.

Yesterday, I finished the master CD and cassette for Ruth and Jonah in the Nyakyusa language.  Take a listen:

Ruth

Jonah

This is the audio I spoke of yesterday:

Nyakyusa sentence

Good news is that after listening to it, our Partnership Coordinator, a Nyakyusa pastor, said the edit was sufficient and that we don’t need to have the original Ruth come in after all.  That’s awesome.  Now, it’s time to plan a time for community testing to see if the recording is acceptable.  Closer and closer…

I didn’t have anything really planned for the day.  I’ve given that up a while ago.  I get up each morning and let the day come to me, to see what is possible to be done that day.  I need another set of master cassette copies of Hapo Mwanzo (The Beginning) which are Genesis stories in Swahili.  So, while those are dubbing, I decided to de-dirt the studio.  In the dry season, this room could be vacuum-sealed and still somehow dust would find it’s way in.  So, I began cleaning.

After just a few minutes, I got a call from the office telling me some Nyakyusa folks are there and they’re the ones for whom I’m waiting in order to finish the recording corrections for that language.  Wasn’t planning on it, but this is how it goes here.  I’ve got the studio which is always ready to record.  Down the mountain I went.

As I pulled up to the office, I see the woman who spoke for Naomi and a young woman with her.  She is not the same woman who spoke for Ruth.  I need corrections for Ruth.  Well, let’s see how she sounds recorded.  Why didn’t ‘Naomi’ bring the original ‘Ruth’?  Hhmmm, I’m still working on that one.  Back up the mountain.

We record and re-record and re-re-record just this one sentence that needs to be fixed.  I cannot for the life of me get this girl’s voice to be close enough to the original Ruth’s. Back down the mountain.

Now, we await the mother (Naomi) to get her daughter (the original Ruth) to come to Mbeya.  Since the first time recording, the daughter has married and moved away… about 2.5 hours away.  Ugh.  Well, we’ll see what happens in the coming days… or weeks… months are always possibilities.  Worst case scenario is that… well, there are no worst case scenarios here because there’s no way you can predict what’s going to happen each new day in Africa.

Back to dubbing and de-dirting.

It’s exactly how I’m feeling sitting here on Friday evening.  Wasn’t yesterday Monday?

This has been by far my most active week in that I made seven different trips to the office to pick up people to speak on recordings.  The highest was four in one day, Wednesday.  Couple that with a couple of shopping trips to town, installing new shock absorbers in my driveway and taking Asher to the doctor way out in Ifisi and you have high octane fuel making the week fly by.

But, and that’s a big ol’ BUT, I accomplished some key goals all by Christ’s strength that He gave to me.

Nyakyusa is now only one person away from having their corrections recorded.  In the first drafts of the completely recorded stories (Ruth and Jonah), we found a handful of needed re-do’s.  Three of those four people have been to the studio to record this week and hopefully the fourth will come next week.  Once that happens, we can move ahead with the testing with a group of Nyakyusa pastors and make any needed changes they perceive.  Then, it’s duplication and distribution.  (Insert WEE-DOGGIE! here)

Malila now has all of the people recorded for the books of Ruth and Jonah.  I began putting their first drafts together this afternoon.  This is exciting because a lot of these people really acted out their parts.  Chances are that we’ll come across some needed re-do’s in these books but this is definitely great progress!

The following is an article set to appear in our 2nd quarter newsletter which is about to be released:

This was a CRAZY busy quarter in terms of all the things I’ve been able to do.  Let me begin by addressing the preview items from last quarter’s newsletter.
The Nyakyusa recordings will be tested and distributed. We’re still in the test phase because we found some inconsistencies with the audio compared to the printed Scripture.  I’m waiting until after our branch conference (early July) to schedule some correction recording sessions with four different speakers.  Why so many?  Well, two of them will be coming in for single word recordings.  One said, “cha” when he should’ve said, “kya,” and another said “Abinalamu” when he should’ve said “Aminalabu.”  I caught neither of these things while we were recording nor while I was editing!  Our goal is to distribute a quality, accurate recording so you can see how the work can easily become very intensive.
We will begin a weekly radio broadcast playing Scripture and biblical songs in the local languages. I’ve put this project on hold for the time being.  Not because I don’t think it can happen but because when it does happen, even the very first broadcast, I want it to be done right.  I don’t think I’m to that point yet so I’ll continue to seek advice and feedback on all of my ideas.
The Gospel of Mark will be recorded in the Vwanji language in preparation for a later-in-the-year dedication ceremony.  This task has gone very well.  We’ve only spent one week recording so far and in that short period, we completed 57% of all the lines in the book!  Soon after conference, we’ll resume the recording with all the words of Jesus up next.  After that, we’ll only have to record the short-appearance characters.
The translation department asked for the audio to be ready to accompany [Mark] and other study materials we’ll release that day.  [The Vwanji] will have Ruth and Jonah recorded and made available as well. I’m happy to inform you that both Ruth and Jonah have completed the recording phase!
At least two other languages will have the recordings of Ruth and Jonah begun. Two other languages… not yet.  But, we’ve almost finished one of them.  Jonah in the Malila language has been completely recorded and I am now only lacking the voices of the women in Ruth.  The Nyiha language recording should begin in August.

No matter what you call it, I have finished seven of them. The radio station is scheduled to cycle through the set playing one at 7am and one at 7pm everyday for a month starting today. Here’s a summary of what you can hear in the ads posted below:
1-6 sec : Language specific translation of Jonah 2:2
7-29 sec : Swahili describing our need for full-time scripture use & literacy workers to be based in each respective language area.
30-35 sec : List of nine languages in which we’re hiring folks; these names are all said in their respective languages: Ishinyiha, Ishimalila, Kivwanji, Shisango, Ishisafwa, Kikinga, Kinyakyusa, Hibena, Ichindali.
36-60 sec : Swahili describing applicant qualifications, where to get an application and the last date to submit an application.

Vwanji Advertisement (click to play)

Sangu Ad

Safwa Ad

Nyakyusa Ad

Ndali Ad

Malila Ad

Kinga Ad

And here are some pictures of the recording happening in my studio:

It is done.

Pastor Gordon M. speaking the narrator sections of RUTH and JONAH
Yesterday was a great day, especially in light of what happened Tuesday night. 60 hours after my studio was broken into, we recorded the last word for the RUTH and JONAH in the Nyakyusa language. It was very gratifying to be able to accomplish this because even deciding to keep the recording schedule for yesterday was a hard decision in itself.
This is very encouraging, especially since Nyakyusa is one of the more influential people groups in the region. Definitely one of the bigger ones, too. So, the potential these recordings have is huge.
Now is the editing stage. This is a lot of work but one of my favorite parts. I’ll keep you updated.