Mouth to mouth

"I wish I could talk to you mouth to mouth."

What would that phrase mean in your cultural background?

This is just one example of the interesting challenges we faced while translating the letters of John into the Jita language. I'll return to that example later.

Here's another example. Right away in 1 John 1:1 it says,

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life.

The first draft of the Jita sounded like we heard him with our eyes and saw him with our hands. Uh oh! Thankfully, that was an easy fix.

Then there's this beautiful verse about God's love and Jesus' sacrifice.

1 John 4:10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

The word "propitiation/atonement" was a difficult concept to translate. The main components of meaning are sacrifice, covering of sin, removal of guilt and turning away God's wrath. We discovered a word in Jita [okugwatanya] which refers to the process of reconciliation. When one person wrongs or offends another, their relationship is separated. The guilty party must bring a goat, both parties lay their hands on the goat and a respected elder will slaughter the goat. When the blood is spilled, the relationship is reconciled. So we decided to translate the one English word "propitiation" with the Jita phrase, "sacrifice which removes our sins and reconciles us to God."

1 John 4:10 Rinu niryo eryenda, jitari ati, eswe chaatangatire okwenda Nyamuwanga. Tari omwene niwe :aatangatire okucheenda eswe. Niyo isonga ^naatuma Omwana waaye, abhe echoogo echa okusoosya‑wo ebhibhiibhi bhyeswe na okuchigwatanya na Nyamuwanga.

And of course, let's not forget 2 John. John writes this letter to a church personified as a "lady." The best way to communicate that idea is with the word "sister." But then at the end of the letter, when John sends greetings from a "sister" church, the Jita used a different word for "sister." 

Huh? 

In Jita culture, all greetings are determined by gender and age. So when John himself (a man) greets his sister church (a woman) he uses [omusubhaati]. But when he sends greetings from one sister church (woman) to another sister church (woman) he uses [omuyara]. Whew! That's confusing! But now the letter of 2 John will be accepted because it is natural Jita language.

And finally, in 3 John, John closes his letter with these words, 

"I had much to write to you, but I would rather not write with pen and ink. I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face." 

That phrase "face to face" was fun. The Greek literally says, "mouth to mouth." Swahili has two different ways to say it. And the Jita expression is "eye to eye." 

And just for fun, here's a word cloud I made for 1 John with the size of the words relating to the frequency in the letter. Enjoy! (have I mentioned that I love this job?!?!)