CHECKING.... COFFEEEE.......CHECKING...COFFFEEEE...

This morning, Sarah, Norman, and I started reading Sara's translation of Jeremiah. (For non-translators:  This is called committee checking where the translation team tries to improve a draft by agreement and disagreement, rejecting or accepting, etc. the words, structure, etc, used to express the exegesis (meaning) of the texts.  Jeremiah is a difficult book, I just found out! We have a hard time translating the passages where God is very angry.  What tone would God use to speak when He is angry or jealous?  For a language like Kalanguya, which depends so much on speech intonation and discourse particles for meaning, these are questions that arise when we translate.

Committee checking is a difficult process.  It calls for humility, presence of mind, attention to detail and sensitivity from all members.  If you are the drafter then you have to remove yourself from your work.  KEEP DISTANCE, as the sign at the back of trucks say.  You have to bear in mind that whatever negative comment you receive, it is not meant as a personal affront, but a suggestion to improve the translation.  Humility therefore is a must. Without it, you'll curse the day cuz your teammates will surely question every bit of period, comma, exclamation mark, etc. in your text.   

I like being a checker cuz you get to chop up, rip apart, then put together someone else's work and get away with it!  Hehehe!  Joke! Seriously, if you are the checker, you have to be sensitive and diplomatic. You have to remember the feelings of a drafter towards his/her manuscript.  A manuscript is a writer's or a translator's baby; that's why when someone starts pointing out mistakes on the manuscript, the writer would instinctively become defensive.  It is therefore a must for a checker to learn if not master the art of diplomacy.  You have to constantly tell yourself that you are there to make something better or beautiful and not to judge and reject. 

In our team, we are blessed because we do not have much problem that stems from individual attitudes.  It can probably be credited to the fact that we know each other so well so much so that I know that if I tell Sarah what a lousy work she has done, she'll smile at me ruefully and tell me that if she does too much a good job, I will lose mine.  If I tell Norman that he translated a verse wonderfully, he'll just close his hands into fists and beat his chest (like Tarzan does) and say "Ahurrrmmm!!!"  Sara and Norman also know that if they tell me that my suggestion is murky, they will have to give me all the reasons they can come up with for not liking my suggestion (hehe).  We know how to deal with each other.  Thanks to long friendship!!!  THANKS TO THE HOLY SPIRIT... guiding and leading our hearts and minds.  Thanks to you people who pray for us.

All that to say that I would like to appreciate my team for bearing with me & my questions and lectures at every possible translation problem and situation.  I hope we can do more than 2 chapters tomorrow!  Brrrrrrr, it's getting real cold here now, apay ngata?!  COFFEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!