Testing the translation

1. Testing the translation Community Testing OurTheir Translation

2. What are we doing when we do testing? • Making sure that the translation can be understood easily by the community What is testing?

3. I Totally Understand - Rev Fun Cartoon

4. What do we test for? • Clear • Accurate • Natural • Acceptable What is testing?

5. Does it communicate?Examples • John the Baptists head (Mat 14:8) • Wind from the south brings hot (luke12:55) • Christmas Manger (Luke 2:7)

6. For discussion- why do testing? • Two Kinds of testing • Informal • Formal

7. What is Informal testing? • Getting feedback when ever the translation is used Who is involved in testing? Bible Study Church Social gatherings Family devotions One-on-one

8. Formal Testing A Structured Testing Situation:

9. Who is involved in testing? Pictures of testing assistants

10. Who is involved in testing? Pictures of testing assistants

11. Who is involved in testing? Pictures of testing assistants

12. Who is involved in testing? Pictures of testing assistants

13. Preparing to Test • First explain carefully to the one with whom you will test what you want him to do. • Also explain carefully that youare not giving him a test. • You are testing the translation and asking for his help to improve it. Preparing to Test

14. When You Test Involve those with whom you test • Encourage the ones you test with to ask questions, too. • The questions people ask may show you problems that you never even thought about. • WATCH those with whom you test. Let them talk. Don’t interrupt. Encourage discussion. • Do testing with several different signers.

15. Different testing methods show different things • Some test whether the translation is accurate • What is being communicated? • Some test whether the translation communicates effectively Is it clear and easy to understand? • Some test whether the translation is natural Is it the way that people sign everyday? • Some test whether the translation is acceptable • Is the style right for this audience? What different methods show

16. Other benefits of testing Other benefits of testing Testing encourages people to think about what they see signed. As new believers and others help to test translation, they learn to watch signed Scripture with understanding. Many religions emphasize repeating certain words, without necessarily understanding them. Jesus wanted us to understand what he taught.

17. The Lord Jesus said, Jesus said “When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart.” Matthew 13:19

18. We will focus on two methods: • “Tell-it-again” or “Retelling” test and • Using questions and answers to test translation 2 methods for testing

19. “Tell-it-again” test (also called the ‘Retelling’ test) The “Tell-it-again” test is quite simple • Ask the person with whom you are testing to watch a short passage that is signed • Then ask him to retell what he has seen • If the passage is clear to him, he will be able to sign it back in his own way Besides finding out if the meaning is clear, • You may also get some good ideas for improving the translation. “Tell-it-again” test

20. A second method of testing: asking questions to test translation Using questionsto to test translation Where? Who? How? When? Why? What?

21. Using questions • The purpose of using questions is to find out • Whether the MAIN POINT of the passage is clear • Then, whether all the DETAILS are clear • This method also helps to test the accuracy of the translation • Is the meaning that is being communicated the CORRECT meaning? Questions test accuracy and comprehension

22. Two types of questions Two types of questions • Overview questions aim to find out whether themain pointis clear • Detail questions aim to find out whether all thedetailsare correct and clear

23. Begin with the Big Picture • Comprehension testing is like doing exegesis. You begin with the big picture then move to the details. • You start by signing a whole passage or story. • Then sign a sentence or two at a time. Begin with the big picture

24. How to test by asking questions 1. Divide the passage to be tested into segments. If a segment is too long you may need to divide it again into smaller sections. 2. Sign a whole segment and then ask the overview questions for that segment, or do the “tell it again” test. 3. Then ask the detail questions. If needed, sign the passage, one or two sentences at a time. How to test by asking questions

25. Next develop questions for the passage • Overview questions aim to find out whether the main pointis clear • Detail questions aim to find out whether all the details are correct and clear Next develop questions

26. As you develop questions, write down the answer to each question and where the answer is found. Write down the answer and where it is found

27. What are good questions? What are good questions? • Questions that begin with “Who”, “Where”, “When”, “How”, “What”, are usually good questions. • Questions that begin with “Why” are often good too, but don’t use too many of them.

28. More about asking good questions • The answers to the questions should be in the translation. • Questions should not be long or too difficult. • DON’T ASK questions that expect ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers. For example, More about asking good questions • Do you understand this? • Does this look right? • Does this appear natural?

29. More about asking good questions • Don’t ask for information that was already given in a retelling or in an overview question. • Don’t ask questions that are too obvious. • Don’t focus on names. Strange names are hard to remember. More advice on asking questions

30. Look at Jonah 4:6 What kind of plant grew up over Jonah? Why is this NOT a good question? • The kind of plant was a qiqayon but we don’t know what that is today. • The kind of plant isn’t as important to the story as is the reason God provided the plant. • So the question has no purpose. Jonah 4:6 - what kind of plant? A better question would be: Why did God make the plant grow up over Jonah?

31. Don’t give away information in your detail questions For example, if you asked for Jonah 1:3: • Why did Jonah get on a ship going to Spain (Tarshish)? Don’t give away information - Jonah 1:3 And then asked: • Where was the ship going? You would have given away the answer to the second question. Ask first:Where was the ship going? Then ask:Why did Jonah get on a ship going to Spain (Tarshish)?

32. Look at Jonah 3:10-4:3 Why did Jonah want God to destroy the people of Nineveh? Why is this NOT a good question? Jonah 3:10-4:3 - why did Jonah want the people of Nineveh destroyed? • The text does not tell us why Jonah wanted the people of Nineveh destroyed. • The question assumes that the person you are testing with knows that Jonah’s people and the people of Nineveh were enemies. A better question would be:How did Jonah feel when he knew that God had changed his mind about punishing the people of Nineveh?

33. More kinds of questions After asking the detail questions, you may want to go back and look at the big picture again. More kinds of questions You want to know whether the person you are testing with has really understood the main point of the passage. Other kinds of questions to see if the main point of the passage is understood are implication and application questions.

34. Implication questions Implication questions test whether the real point of the story is understood. Implication questions • For the story of Jonah, you might ask, • What was surprising to you in this story? • What do you think God was trying to teach Jonah?

35. Application questions At the end of the testing session you may also want to ask one or two application questions. Application questions invite the audience to think about what they have seen signed and how it affects their own lives. Application questions are not comprehension testing questions, but it may be appropriate to use one or two at the end of a testing session. Application questions

36. Application questions Application questions help the audience apply what they have seen in their own lives. Examples of application questions • For example, • What do you think God is trying to teach us through this story? • What does this book teach us - about how a believer should live? • - about what God is like? • - about how we should treat others?

37. Be committed to comprehension testing! Be Committed to Comprehension Testing It’s the only way to be sure that people really understand the meaning of God’s word.