Page 41 - Presbyterian Connection

Connection
MISSION
A Visit to the Tao Bible Translation Team in Lanyu, Taiwan
presbyterian.ca
SPRING 2023
PRESBYTERIAN
41
The Rev. Dr. Paul McLean with Syan and Little Lanyu behind them.
By the Rev. Dr. Paul McLean, mission staff to Taiwan. The following is an excerpt from Paul’s blog, available at presbyterian.ca/ missionblog
“Livangvang,” said Syapen Mil- imwang. “It means ‘flying fish’ in our Tao language. Tourists come to Lanyu from Taiwan and around the world to see them fly. Our young men have fished them for generations. The dugout canoes they use are world famous too.”
Over the past two years, due to the Covid pandemic, I have been meeting online with Syapen’s son Syan from my home in Toronto to their home on Lanyu (Orchid Is- land). A visit Nov. 25–26, 2022, was the first time I met them and others on the Tao Bible Translation Team in-person. When the Inter- net connection has worked well on Lanyu (which has not always been the case) we have enjoyed good translation checking ses- sions. To communicate 12,000 km apart has been amazing! To speak in-person, live together and eat together for two short days was wonderful, but took a little more planning and effort.
The Bible Society in Taiwan ar- ranged for me and Huang Lung- kuang (LK) to visit the Tao team in our roles as Bible Translation
Tao Jivalino Presbyterian Church on Lanyu.
Advisors. LK flew from Taipei and I met him at the airport early Nov. 24. We planned to board the small airplane from Taitung to Lanyu at 10 a.m. for the half-hour flight, but rain and winds made landing on the short runway precarious. One by one, flights to Lanyu were delayed then cancelled, until the last flight at 4 p.m. was cancelled too. We had just experienced what Syapen, Syan, their family and Tao people experience regularly when you live on an ancient vol- canic island in the Pacific Ocean, 90 km southeast of Taiwan.
Early Friday morning, after one more failed attempt at the air- port, LK and I took a taxi to Fu- kang Fishing Harbour where we were fortunate to catch the ferry. Looking out, we could see the water line just below the sealed windows on our right and left. It was calm when we left Taiwan, but before long the Pacific Ocean swells and waves were nearly two meters high. When the port side of the ferry dipped low, all you could see out the port win- dows were watery waves or white spray, while starboard windows were full of blue sky. Then, rid- ing the swells, we saw waves and spray out the starboard side windows, and blue sky on the port side. It was “fish-tailing” in the stern while riding the swells that made one’s stomach queasy. A calm day we were told! I have a new appreciation for Psalms 18 and 69 and some of the watery imagery elsewhere in the Bible.
Two hours later, the small ferry landed safely. We were thank- ful when Syan found us in the crowds then drove us along the picturesque coastal road back to his house. The narrow road winds for nearly 40 km around the is- land. We had to slow down for oncoming cars or motorcycles, as well as goats and pigs wander- ing along the roadside. Hit one of the tagged animals and you must pay the owner for damages!
The view looking east over the Pacific Ocean from Syan’s home was spectacular. Syan told me of happy memories he has when one summer he visited his former Yu-shan Seminary teacher, the Rev. Murray Garvin, and canoed on Bird Lake near Bracebridge
north of Toronto. Quite a contrast. LK and I were very happy to meet Syan’s wife and young son, Joseph. Then he introduced us to his father and mother. Syan’s father is filled with the joy of the Lord and is an overflowing foun- tain of stories and testimonies to what God has been doing among the Tao people over the past 70 years the Gospel of Jesus Christ has spread among the 4000 Tao inhabitants. He is also convener of the Tao Bible Translation Team. Syan’s mother, Syapen Milim- wang, has been teaching the Tao language in schools in the six vil- lages around the island for many years. Recently, she felt God’s call to use her Tao language gifts to help translate books in the Old Testament. One of the main reasons LK and I came on this visit was to meet her, install Bible translation software on her com- puter, and give her a basic course on how to use it. Her son, Syan, will help her master the computer
skills after we leave.
Translating from a Mandarin-
Chinese model text, Syapen has already drafted the book of Psalms and most of Proverbs. She ap- proaches her work with deep de- votion, prayer and reliance upon the Holy Spirit. Yet there are chal- lenges. Most people know about the one big fish story in the Bible, but as far as we know, there are no stories about flying fish, livan- gvang! Syapen asked us, “How do I translate other animals men- tioned in the Bible when we have no words for them in Tao?” For a test case, we looked up the word for “lion” to see how the Tao team translated it in their 1994 New Testament. That led us to Revela- tion 13:2 where comparisons are made with three animals: leopard, bear and lion. Tao has no words for any of these three, which is probably why the 1994 transla- tion simply calls them all “wild animals.” But do we not lose some meaning if we fail to differentiate them? One solution might be to revise the New Testament transla- tion and call them, “a wild animal called an X, a wild animal called a Y, and a wild animal called a Z,” where we can borrow the sounds of X equals “baw,” Y equals “si- ung” and Z equals “shrdz” from
Dinner with Tao Bible Translation Team.
Mandarin. Younger and older Tao readers would recognize the Man- darin names for these animals and have a better idea what the beast in Revelation 13 looks like. Or else we might add relevant descriptions for each of the three, though the verse could get quite long.
On the ‘Amis Bible translation team I have worked with since 2013, we have father-and-daugh- ter translators, Sing ‘Olam and his daughter Iwan Sing. The Tao team is the first I have worked with that has mother-and-son translators. Syan recognizes that his mother has much better Tao language fa- cility than he does. He consults her regularly as he leads the review team, which is double-checking books in the New Testament.
When we met the rest of the Tao review team for dinner, they overwhelmed us with their love and joy at having us come even for this short visit, and the promise of future visits to suppor t them, both in-person and online. One member of the review team is retired evan- gelist Syaman Javitong (Wang Rung-ji in Mandarin). Syaman told us that he worked on the first New Testament translation (1987– 1994) and helped draft several NT books. God has blessed him with many translation gifts and insights that are a great contribu- tion when the team reviews draft translations. I reminded everyone that what we do is teamwork: each person prayerfully using their God- given gifts towards the same goal of translating the whole Bible into their Tao mother-tongue for the 13 churches and all the people on Lanyu. May God continue to help us in the years to come.
Back at Syan’s house, we chatted with him and his father till after midnight about various thanksgivings and concerns, in- cluding budget concerns to trans- late the entire Old Testament, the overall translation process, and the time it will take to translate the whole OT and revise the NT as we all get older.
I woke the next morning just in time to look outside and see the
Lung-Kuang and Paul with Syan’s family.
Lanyu coast and Little Lanyu offshore.
After sunrise from Syan’s Home. A traditional Tao house in the foreground.
sun rise over the Pacific and over the cross on top of the Tao Pres- byterian Church next door where Syan’s father has ministered for more than 30 years. A litter of 12 or more young piglets ran around outside the traditional Tao house that is built into the ground where Syan’s father grew up.
After breakfast we praised God for the love of Jesus our Sav- iour, which fills this Tao home and which inspires this family and their friends in the ongoing mission of translating the whole Bible into the Tao language. The family gave us a warm send-off at the Lanyu airport where LK and I boarded the small plane for the flight back to Taiwan.
LK and I hope to visit the Tao team for a longer in-person visit sometime in the summer of 2023. Until then, we will resume regular online calls to support Syan, his mother and the rest of the team as best we can.