The Ever-Rolling Stream: How Time Subverts “Translation for” into “Journeying with”: Half a Century of Bible Translation in Urak Lawoi’

Abstract

Bible translation in Urak Lawoi’ began with linguistic work in the late 1960s. The Gospel of Mark was first published in 1976 and the New Testament in 1998. The Old Testament, though almost complete, was still in the checking phase in 2018. Those raw data reveal time to be one of the primary players in the drama. Time has impacted the agency of translation and its purpose, its cultural context, and even its medium. But contrary to current efficiency-based presuppositions and product-oriented drive, the result is not all bad. In the process the task has become rather a journey where the companionship is as important as the goal. This paper reflects on the exigencies of time and cultural shift over half a century of Bible translation in Urak Lawoi’.