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When English teacher Faith Linton first proposed translating the Bible into Jamaica's patois tongue in the late 1950s, most people who heard the idea shook their heads.
Some on the deeply Christian island believed it was sacrilegious. Others opposed it because the unique mixture of English and West African languages was widely disdained by the elites as a coarse linguistic stepchild to English, which is the only official language in this former British colony.
"There was shock at the mere suggestion," said Linton, now 81, a longtime board member of the Bible Society of the West Indies. "People were deeply ashamed of their mother tongue. It was always associated with illiteracy and social deprivation."...
Doug Kutilek wrote: Let me say it again--the sole justification for producing and publishing any Bible translation is so that those who do not understand the words in the original languages can nevertheless gain access to them through words they do understand in their own language. . . .
But, Jamaica, needs to have greater contact, not less with English speaking world for economic reasons if for no other. One knows that Rastafarianism viz. in Religion in Jamaica is something that Protestants in Jamaica don't want to encourage. I would think a parallel Bible, e.g., Comparative Study Bible that even included patois would be better than a standalone patois Bible.
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Pastor Greg Locke | 6/26/2008
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