Wolrd Religion

Attached here is a press release on V-MAST. 

Thanks

Donn

https://wycliffeassociates.org/press-releases/amid-covid-19-wycliffe-associates-developed-web-based-program-helps-bible-translators-to-work-collaborate-remotely/

Amid COVID-19, Wycliffe Associates’ Developed Web-Based Program Helps Bible Translators to Work, Collaborate Remotely

(Orlando, Florida, USA)—Wycliffe Associates, an international organization working with national translators with close to 1,200 languages in progress, is expanding its Bible translation technological reach with V-MAST, a video conferencing version of the MAST (Mobilized Assistance Supporting Translation) methodology.

Initially developed as a collaboration tool to allow national Bible translators to collaborate across great distances across national boundaries and remote areas, the V-MAST technology will be used by Bible translators in the midst of COVID-19 social distancing and quarantines.

V-MAST is a web-based program designed to enable Bible translators to use the MAST methodology remotely through a virtual event via an internet connection.

Wycliffe Associates has seen an immediate increase in demand for this service from Bible translators and is scrambling to widen its use across the globe.

“When we developed V-MAST, we had no idea its use would be called upon in such a way as this,” commented Bruce Smith, President and CEO of Wycliffe Associates. “The COVID-19 pandemic is a horrible thing to come upon humanity, yet God is using V-MAST to show us something very powerful.”

MAST workshop facilitators have found that V-MAST is also an effective tool for teaching the MAST methodology step by step when participants are at the same location and connecting via a local server. The essential steps of MAST are programmed into the software, guiding the translators as they work.

As millions around the world have transitioned to video conferencing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, V-MAST will immediately impact translation projects around the world. In the United States, volunteer Bible translators working remotely are using V-MAST to continue translating the Bible into Symbolic Universal Notation (SUN), a written, concept-based language that Wycliffe Associates has created for the Deaf and Blind/Deaf. Users of SUN can begin learning the language, consisting of 100 core symbols, in less than a week. The SUN New Testament was completed and dedicated earlier this year, and work is now underway on the Old Testament. The SUN language will bring the gospel to the hearts and minds of more than 70 million people for the first time who are born deaf.

Despite the obstacles to Bible translation imposed by COVID-19, Wycliffe Associates has seen an increase in the number of completed translations. “One highlight that caught my eye during March was the completion of 40 New Testaments and 4 Old Testaments,” said Smith, which brings New Testament completions to 106 and Old Testament completions to six for the 2020 fiscal year so far.

To date, translators have used V-MAST to translate the Scriptures into 9 Gateway languages, and COVID-19 precautions and quarantines are pushing for greater use. Every region of the world where Wycliffe Associates is working has either an ongoing project with V-MAST or is planning to start projects using the program. A demo is available at www.v-mast.com, and those interested in launching a Bible translation project using V-MAST can request more information by sending an e-mail to vmast@wycliffeassociates.org.

About Wycliffe Associates

One of the world’s leading Bible translation organizations, Wycliffe Associates was organized in 1967 by friends of Bible translators to accelerate the work of Bible translation. Wycliffe Associates empowers national Bible translators to provide God’s Word in their own language, partners with the local church to direct and guard translation work, harnessing their passion and desire for God’s Word, and engages people from all around the world to provide resources, technology, training, and support for Bible translation.

Because millions of people around the world still wait to have the Scriptures in the language of their hearts, Wycliffe Associates is working as quickly as it can to see every verse of God’s Word translated into every tongue to speak to every heart. Wycliffe Associates is directly involved with speeding Bible translation by providing technology, training, resources, logistics, networking, expertise, volunteers, discipleship, church planting, and support. Wycliffe Associates staff and volunteers are currently accelerating Bible translations in 108 countries. For more information, please see www.wycliffeassociates.org.

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$25,000 to install printers in closed countries.  This is one way the Bible is still finding its way into the homes of the persecuted.

Thank you

Donn Hallman

https://wycliffeassociates.org/press-releases/print-on-demand-equipment-is-missing-link-for-bible-translation-teams-facing-intense-persecution/

Print On Demand Equipment is “Missing Link” for Bible Translation Teams Facing Intense Persecution

(Orlando, Florida, USA)—Wycliffe Associates, an international organization that empowers mother-tongue Bible translators and partners with local churches in the advancement of Bible translation, is using technology to protect and empower Bible translators working in regions of intense persecution for Christians.

By using high-capacity, Print On Demand equipment, Bible translators can quickly print the Scriptures from a flash drive, whether a few or many books, and then distribute them. Wycliffe Associates also trains workers to operate and maintain the equipment once it’s installed.

“This is the missing link for national Bible translation teams who have been working tirelessly, risking their very lives, translating God’s Word in some of the most difficult and dangerous places on earth, places where Christianity is against the law, and national Bible translators have had to work in secret,” said Bruce Smith, President and CEO of Wycliffe Associates. 

Wycliffe Associates plans to deliver high-capacity, Print On Demand equipment to national Bible translators for hundreds of language groups, which will make it possible to discreetly produce thousands of copies of the Scriptures.

“They want to be able to read, study, and absorb the Word themselves, in the safety of their own homes, or share the Scriptures quietly, discreetly, with those they love,” Smith said.

The Print On Demand units are critical tools once a Bible translation is completed. With over 1,350 translations currently in progress using the MAST (Mobilized Assistance Supporting Translation) translation method, Bible translators will need a way to print and distribute the Scriptures once they have finished the translation process.

MAST accelerates the Bible translation process as mother-tongue translators work collaboratively to translate the Scriptures into their language. When Wycliffe Associates first piloted a MAST program in 2014, a team of 13 translators working 12-hour days drafted 48 percent of the New Testament in two weeks.

Today, 318 New Testaments have been completed using MAST.

“In some places where translation is already complete, we’ve seen how God moves when we provide Print On Demand units,” said Smith. “Response was so great—hunger for the truth of the Word was so strong—that we quickly needed to print not just a few copies, but thousands of copies of the Scriptures.”

The cost for each Print On Demand unit, installed, is $25,000. Wycliffe Associates is raising funds to respond to three new requests for units.

About Wycliffe Associates

One of the world’s leading Bible translation organizations, Wycliffe Associates was organized in 1967 by friends of Bible translators to accelerate the work of Bible translation. Wycliffe Associates empowers national Bible translators to provide God’s Word in their own language, partners with the local church to direct and guard translation work, harnessing their passion and desire for God’s Word, and engages people from all around the world to provide resources, technology, training, and support for Bible translation.

Because millions of people around the world still wait to have the Scriptures in the language of their hearts, Wycliffe Associates is working as quickly as it can to see every verse of God’s Word translated into every tongue to speak to every heart. Wycliffe Associates is directly involved with speeding Bible translation by providing technology, training, resources, logistics, networking, expertise, volunteers, discipleship, church planting, and support. Wycliffe Associates staff and volunteers are currently accelerating Bible translations in 108 countries. For more information, please see www.wycliffeassociates.org.

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There are 287 Languages spoken in Borneo!  Here is our press release to translate 100 of them.

Thank you!

Donn Hallman

https://www.wycliffeassociates.org/who-we-are/for-the-press/press-release/697

Wycliffe Associates Looking Toward Launch of 100 New Bible Translations for Millions in the Dayak People of Borneo

(Orlando, Florida, USA)— Wycliffe Associates, an international organization involving people in the advancement of Bible translation, intends to launch 100 new Bible translations this year among the most populous people on the island of Borneo. More than three million Dayak people on Borneo, representing 287 languages, are without the Scriptures.

“Millions of Dayak people have never seen a Bible in their own language,” said Bruce Smith, President and CEO of Wycliffe Associates. “But now, Christians from these language groups have contacted us, requesting the tools to translate Scripture for their own people.”

Decades ago, missionaries shared the gospel with the Dayak, predominantly in the Indonesian language. As the gospel spread from the cities to smaller towns and villages, it could only be shared by word of mouth. Only a handful of the local languages had Bible translations. In some of the most remote Dayak villages, only a few of the residents speak Indonesian.

“The Christians in the villages have heard stories from other parts of the country about the incredible transformation that happens where God’s Word becomes available in the heart language of the people,” said Smith. “Tribes at war for generations, regions bound by demonic influence, have experienced a new wave of peace.”

Through an innovative translation method known as MAST, or Mobilized Assistance Supporting Translation, Wycliffe Associates provides training to mother-tongue translators in a workshop setting. The workshops are staffed by local churches, and the translators and church leadership participate in a review process throughout the translation project to help ensure the translation is accurate.  Twenty-first century neurological and education theories guided the development of the MAST strategy, which consists of four drafting steps and four accuracy checking steps.

“One hundred language groups are already recruiting mother-tongue Bible translators to start translating,” said Smith, “yet they can’t start without the technology and tools: computer tablets, Bible translation resources, and training.”

In addition to training at the MAST workshops, Wycliffe Associates equips translators with computer tablets loaded with translation software and provides technology such as Print On Demand equipment, open-source translation technology, and resources to help empower local Bible translators.

More than 1,300 Bible translations have been launched since the development of MAST.

About Wycliffe Associates

One of the world’s leading Bible translation organizations, Wycliffe Associates was organized in 1967 by friends of Bible translators to accelerate the work of Bible translation. Wycliffe Associates empowers national Bible translators to provide God’s Word in their own language, partners with the local church to direct and guard translation work, harnessing their passion and desire for God’s Word, and engages people from all around the world to provide resources, technology, training, and support for Bible translation.

Because millions of people around the world still wait to have the Scriptures in the language of their hearts, Wycliffe Associates is working as quickly as it can to see every verse of God’s Word translated into every tongue to speak to every heart. Wycliffe Associates is directly involved with speeding Bible translation by providing technology, training, resources, logistics, networking, expertise, volunteers, discipleship, church planting, and support. Wycliffe Associates staff and volunteers are currently accelerating Bible translations in 92 countries. For more information, please see www.wycliffeassociates.org.

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Here is our press release for March concerning work in Nigeria.  Let me know if you have any questions or need further research.

Thank you!

Donn Hallman

https://www.wycliffeassociates.org/who-we-are/for-the-press/press-release/695

Once in Conflict, Nigerian Pastors Come Together for Bible Translation Conference, Request Launch of 250 New Projects

(Orlando, Florida, USA)—Wycliffe Associates, an international organization involving people in the advancement of Bible translation, hopes to soon launch new Bible translation projects for 250 language groups in Nigeria that are without the Scriptures in their heart language.

“The Christians there are pleading with us for the tools, technology, and training so they can start translating the Scriptures now,” said Bruce Smith, President and CEO of Wycliffe Associates. “For them, this isn’t a ‘nice project.’ This is life or death.”

In recent months, hundreds of people in Nigeria have been slaughtered in tribal fighting, and for years Nigerians have suffered brutal violence and kidnappings at the hands of the Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram. Decades of tribal differences also have put people at odds with each other.

Recently, Wycliffe Associates hosted Nigerian pastors at a one-week conference to introduce the collaborative Bible translation method known as Mobilized Assistance Supporting Translation, or MAST, which significantly reduces translation time. Over 80 pastors attended, with an additional 15 pastors joining the conference before the week was over.

The pastors compiled a list of 250 language groups in Nigeria that need Bible translation, groups where churches already exist but haven’t had a way to translate the Scriptures into their heart languages.

“One pastor told us he had never seen representatives from so many different language groups together in one place,” said Smith. “For decades, they’ve been tragically locked in bitter conflict with each other. At first, they wouldn’t even speak to each other. But God’s Word softened hearts, and previously warring factions agreed to work together for the sake of bringing peace to their people.”

This caught the attention of a Nigerian governor who leads a state of 3.2 million people. He invited the Wycliffe Associates team to his office and personally encouraged them to continue translating the Scriptures into the language of his people, recognizing the potential of Bible translation to bring peace to his nation.

“Never before have we seen government officials in Nigeria involved in national Bible translation,” Smith said. “But this is no ordinary time. And Nigeria is no ordinary place. This is a place of desperation—and time is running out for them.”

“In the heart of Nigeria, a place of intense tribal warfare, a land of such spiritual darkness that people groups have refused even to speak to one another for years, we are witnessing a miracle,” said Smith.

Worldwide, more than 600 language groups have asked Wycliffe Associates to help them launch MAST-method Bible translations this year.

About Wycliffe Associates

One of the world’s leading Bible translation organizations, Wycliffe Associates was organized in 1967 by friends of Bible translators to accelerate the work of Bible translation. Wycliffe Associates empowers national Bible translators to provide God’s Word in their own language, partners with the local church to direct and guard translation work, harnessing their passion and desire for God’s Word, and engages people from all around the world to provide resources, technology, training, and support for Bible translation.

Because millions of people around the world still wait to have the Scriptures in the language of their hearts, Wycliffe Associates is working as quickly as it can to see every verse of God’s Word translated into every tongue to speak to every heart. Wycliffe Associates is directly involved with speeding Bible translation by providing technology, training, resources, logistics, networking, expertise, volunteers, discipleship, church planting, and support. Wycliffe Associates staff and volunteers are currently accelerating Bible translations in 92 countries. For more information, please see www.wycliffeassociates.org.

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