I had been thinking about translating my first book (Alabama and Beyond, Creating a Lasting Legacy) into Spanish. If I did the work myself, I could avoid a search for a talented translator and his/her charges. All I had to do was the translating, typing, and getting the right person to proofread my work.
So, I started about a week ago. It was slow. My typing speed was delayed by having to put accent marks on all the accented vowels. LOTS OF THEM. Also, all the special Spanish punctuation figures had to be done with special commands. I had most of them memorized (Alt + 160, Alt + 130, Alt + 168, etc., etc.).
During my struggles, my younger, bilingual daughter texted me about something routine. When I told her what I was doing, she remarked that I should use Google Translator because it was so much easier and then just tweak the document with my own knowledge of Spanish. (I had taught Spanish I and II for eight years on the high school level.)
But that wasn’t the end of the story. That week I met an educated young lady from South America who agreed to check my translation when I finished, beginning with chapter 1.
I followed my daughter’s advice and learned that Google Translator does all the accentuation and special characters for me. All I had to do was paste their translation into my new Spanish Word document. Word’s “Review” tab walked me through steps to make Spanish my review language with its automatic corrections. My husband came along and told me to just copy the original text from my 2015 Word book document into Google Translator; that step prevented having to retype the whole book all over again. Why didn’t I think of that? Boy, did that save time. But that wasn’t all.
During a conversation with our francophone son in Belgium, he told us of another translation site which he prefers over Google Translator. It is deepL. I tried it. Now I prefer it also because of its choice of words and the length of text it will accept. Now his dad wants to recruit him to tweak one of Dad’s books in French!
Now, I have almost finished four chapters. I had thought this effort would take all year.
Think of the possibilities this advancement will offer. For example, perhaps the seminary student can get some help with his Greek and Hebrew studies. Perhaps the unknown faith hero in another country can have his story published in languages around the world if someone will just take the time to record his exploits of faith.
It is amazing to see my English words pasted on the left and then within seconds an almost perfect translation appears to the right. It makes me stand in awe that God has permitted our little human brains to orchestrate such ingenuity, making us somewhat as multi-lingual as He is. Just think! He can understand prayers in every language of earth and answer them in the same language instantly. He has granted not only the faculty of speech but the ability to maneuver through various tongues. Daniel 12:4 tells us that in the latter days, knowledge will be increased.
Surely this breakthrough in translation is a classic example of that increase. It’s up to us Christians to use this tool for God’s glory, while there is still time!
In the photo above, there are our four children. Translation has been a BIG factor in their lives. They have seen witnessing opportunities unfold for our family because I could communicate with the wonderful Hispanic people that I have always loved. The children opened themselves up to the same opportunities. Truth be known, when I originally signed up to take Spanish in junior college, I was not as close to God as I wanted to be. I thought that someday maybe I would be closer and He could use me to reach potentially thousands more than I could as an English speaker only. Wow! That was a prophetic thought.
Here are some evidences of how that decision and Allan's scholastic decisions affected our family line.
Of the 6 of us, our language use looks like this...
Dad/Allan Studied Greek, Hebrew, German, and French. Did not pursue fluency.
Mama/Dottie Studied Spanish in college, holds an undergraduate degree in Spanish and a Masters degree in Foreign Language Education with concentration in Spanish. Fluent in Spanish and has prayed in Spanish for salvation of some. Mission trips to Mexico & Bolivia.
1st child/Charles Studied French in high school & college. Today is fluent in French enough to preach in French and lead college outreach ministry in Belgium.
2nd child/Sharon Studied Spanish in high school. Today uses Spanish on her job with Lee Co. Health Dept. in Alabama.
3rd child/Alison Studied Spanish in high school and college. Undergraduate degree in Spanish, Masters in ESL (English as a Second Language with concentration in Spanish). Today is bilingual and has led Hispanics to the Lord in Spanish. Mission trips to Mexico and Central America.
4th child/Joel Studied Spanish in high school. Today seems gifted at absorbing languages from surroundings, such as Chinese, Spanish, or Indian languages, although not fluent in any.
And their spouses? Wife of Charles - bilingual in French
Two sons-in-law - comfortable and can manuever around Spanish but not fluent themselves
Wife of Joel - multi-lingual in Indian languages. She is from India.