Heath Evangelical Church

Heath Church has been involved with the Metta people and this project since 1972, when Klaus and Janice Spreda first visited Cameroon to begin linguistic work among them.

The pastor, Rev Wyn Hughes, visited the Metta people in the autumn of 2007 and was warmly received by the local team and local chiefs and officials. As a consequence, the church has committed itself to helping the project to complete the translation and publication of the whole New Testament

The Project team

There are five members of the translation team: Mr Richard Tah, who is also the Project Co-ordinator, Rev John Fokwa, who is also their exegesis expert, and Rev John Atoh, a senior pastor and much respected, Otto Fondeh and Pastor Philip Fonangoh. Janet Ake is their typist. They meet in a house that the Metta Bible Translation Steering Committee (MBTSC) rent in Mbengwi; and they employ a cleaning lady, called Prisca Bih. Regina Tarke is the Literacy Supervisor and she works with five assistant literacy supervisors and 15 teachers.

Stages in translation work

1. Initial drafting. While Klaus Spreda was working there, he would initiate first drafts of translation, but increasingly in recent years, CABTAL have organized translation workshops where translators from a number of different projects meet together to work on one particular book, under the guidance of a Bible translation expert.
2. Village testing. The initial draft is tested out in the villages to see whether the translation is comprehensible; difficulties in comprehension and suggestions for alternative expressions are duly noted and are reported back to a review committee.
3. Review committee. This committee works over the difficulties that have been encountered with a view to improving the translation. This check should help produce a translation that sounds like good, natural Metta as well as being truly comprehensible.
4. Consultant check. The new improved version is then carefully checked by a trained Bible translation consultant, who will check the translation to make sure that important points of the grammar, vocabulary and text structure of the Greek have been taken due account of. This is a long process of careful checking of the Metta against the Greek to ensure that the translation is as accurate as it can be.
5. Publication check. This is the process of preparing the translation for publication, with all the details of getting chapter and verse right, consistent spelling and tone marks, paragraphing, etc. Decisions about illustrations are also taken at this stage.
6. Publication and dedication. When all is ready, finance is needed to print and produce the book(s). Then arrangements with a printer are made to print and deliver the books. A dedication service is organized, which is the occasion of great joy, praise and excitement; and then the books have to be sold and distributed, which all takes a lot of effort and organization.

It takes a lot of time, dedication and effort to get just one book of the New Testament ready, and it will take several years to complete the whole of the New Testament.

How far have they come in the Metta Project? The chart that follows gives you the detail.

Progress (December 2009)

This means that now most of the New Testament has been drafted, and about 70% has reached Stage 4. But as yet, only the Gospel according to Matthew has actually been published, although, God willing, Luke’s Gospel will also be soon.

Literacy
The reading and writing of Metta in 27 primary schools from levels 1 to 3 has been very encouraging. The 27 teachers involved were very excited about teaching their mother tongue.

There are now 21 literacy classes for adults, with 270 attending. Richard Tah, the project co-ordinator writes (January 2010):

Literacy in Meta’ is on-going with an increase in enrollment in all the zones. The teachers are seriously teaching for two hours weekly. Teaching has resumed in primary school as from the first day of re-opening. The literacy supervisor holds monthly meetings with the Assistant literacy supervisors while the latter hold monthly meetings with the literacy teachers. Visiting of the classes is going on normally. Literacy activities have penetrated into 20 social groups and the people are willing and determine to learn how to read and write Meta’. A one-week teachers’ refresher course was held in the office with 27 participants present from the 16-20 November 2009 in which the teachers were taught new techniques of teaching to make their lessons interesting. Statistics from each zone is a follows: Medig 4 has 109 learners, Ta’ zone has 137 learners, Medig 1-3 has 75 learners, Bome zone has 100 learners and Guta’ zone has 50 learners. The total number of learners in all the zones is 471 learners.

A young Swedish trainee Wycliffe linguist, Jonas Tunviken, is currently working with Richard Tah at Mbengwi on a dictionary of the Metta language. He is using the material that Klaus has produced and adding new words and a ‘sketch’ grammar. He hopes to complete this work in 2010, before returning to Wycliffe UK to continue his studies for MA in Field Linguistics.

March 2010

Translation sample: 1 John 2: 1-6