Over the last few weeks i have been paying close attention to the debate on whether or not the bible should be translated to patois.Good points seemed to have been raised on both sides of the table. I will go on to give my 2 cents on the whole thing.
Should it be translated?
No, certainly not. $60 Million could be better spent elsewhere. Also, there is no standard in which patois should or should not be written.
The Matter of Literacy
It is unfortunate, but a good amount of Jamaicans can barely read or not able to read at all…how would they go about reading patois?. Sure! it’s easy to communicate with it, but writing and reading it is totally a different kettle of fish. Use the money to fulfill more meaningful resolves. I’m sure we can find more “creative” ways to express our beautiful language that is loved by many…translating the bible to patwa is not one of them.
I also suggest we move away from calling it “patois”. The meaning of patois is “uneducated or provincial speech”,can’t be associating or dialect with such a word now can we?. Call it Jamlish (Not a word…yet) or something along that line, that would certainly be a step forward.
Translating the bible to “patois” will not mircaciously gain it new readership. What will happen is that a few curious folks (like myself) will skeem through this “patois bible” just for the sake of curiosity; it would then be put aside and not be read…just like the english one.
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Originally published on gordonswaby.com on 2008-06-26 (recovered from the Internet Archive).