Translating Jita Jonah (part 5)

We continue our series about how we translated the book of Jonah into the Jita language...

Step 1 - DRAFTING: The Jita translators adapted the book from Swahili to Jita.
Step 2 - TRANSLATION ADVISOR CHECKING: I studied the text to make sure the meaning of the original was communicated accurately.
Step 3 - COMMUNITY TESTING: We invited Jita speakers to listen to the text and help us make improvements.
Step 4 - CONSULTANT CHECKING: We worked with a veteran Bible translator to make improvements.

Now we move to what many of you will say is the most boring step of all:

Step 5 - SPELL CHECKING

But really it's lots of fun...really...

Ben, Neema and Magoma spell-checking the book of Jonah in the Jita language

Now, before you ask, the answer is "NO" we can't just use the automatic spell checker in our word processing program.  It would look like this...

However, there is a spell checking tool in our translation software. The challenge is, we have to teach it which words are good Jita words. So maybe by the time we finish translating half of the Bible the spell checking dictionary will be full of good Jita words. But for now, we check each word.

And we don't only check spelling. We also look for punctuation mistakes, inconsistencies, and grammar mistakes. For example,

Two of the most difficult punctuation problems involve these two little symbols [^] and [:]. Since Jita is a tonal language, two words might be spelled the same but pronounced differently depending on tone. Therefore, [neerukire] could mean "I ran" (distant past tense more than two days ago) if pronounced one way and "I have already run" (focusing on the completion of the action) if pronounced another way. So our amazing linguist friends here in Musoma have decided to use the symbol [:] to mark distant past.

In our spell check of Jonah 4:2, I noticed that our translation missed the [:] and sounded like, "for this reason I have already run to Tarshish." Nope. We added the [:] to make it, "for this reason I ran to Tarshish."

The other symbol [^] distinguishes between third person narrative tense and first person recent past. Therefore, [neeyumbakira] could mean "then he built for himself" or if pronounced another way could mean "I built for myself." In Jonah 4:5, we missed the [^] so it sounded like Jonah went out of the city and I made a shelter for myself. OOPS!

Another challenge in writing Jita is the use of long vowels. For example, [okukora] means "to do" and [okukoora] means "to be late." Therefore, the vowel length must be written. This is very important in Jonah 1:10 when the sailors ask Jonah, "Why have you done this?" If we accidentally wrote the long vowel it would be, "Why are you late?"

I think we all feel the importance of spell-checking. Just try to read this messed up verse without cringing...

And he prayed to the LORD said, "O Lord, is not this not what I say when I was yet in my country, That is why I made haste to flea to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracius God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love?'

Exactly! THAT'S why we take the time to check spelling and grammar and punctuation.