MAST (Mobilized Assistance Supporting Translation) training is available to empower the global church to draft their Bible in months rather than years. The pilot program took place in 2014.  Since that time, God has opened doors to expand its influence. MAST is also being developed to address oral language needs, deaf translation work, revisions as languages change, and even expanding to reach out to other marginalized people. You can explore some of these on our Bible In Every Language website.

We can send a team for 2 weeks and train mother tongue speakers to do Bible Translation.  We will assess the group for language fluency, Biblical knowledge, computer familiarity and basic thinking skills.  We then have them form groups that can work in parallel on the translation work.  Here are the steps taken:

Consume and Verbalize Text: Participants read the text and discuss it with another participant to develop their understanding.  The goal is to get the big picture and a general understanding of the passage.  Talking about it will force the information into the short term memory of the translator.

Chunk and Draft Text: Participants divide or “chunk” the text into smaller portions that are more than a single verse, but not generally more than three or four verses.  After reading the chunk, they close their source text, and draft the new text.  The goal is to have workable bite-sized pieces that can then be expressed in a natural way.

Self-edit: Participants compare their drafted text to the source text.  This helps each translator take personal responsibility to correct their own mistakes.

Peer edit: Participants trade drafted texts and compare the work to source text.  This increases accuracy and naturalness.

Key Words/Verse Check: Facilitators review the drafted text with participants to see if key terms made it into the text and that they were used correctly.  It is important that the meaning for these words are well defined and expressed in a natural and clear manner.  They also verify that no verses or thoughts were omitted.

Community and Church Check: The group reviews drafts for naturalness, clarity, and accuracy making suggestions to improve the text.

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