"Jiizas - di buk we Luuk rait bout im".

[FBM]

This is funny. Wish I had a copy just for the larfs...

Jamaica's patois Bible: The word of God in creole

The Bible is, for the first time, being translated into Jamaican patois. It's a move welcomed by those Jamaicans want their mother tongue enshrined as the national language - but opposed by others, who think learning and speaking English should be the priority.

In the Spanish Town Tabernacle near the capital, Kingston, the congregation is hearing the word of God in the language of the street.

At the front of the concrete-block church, a young man and woman read alternate lines from the Bible.

This is the Gospel of St Luke in Jamaican patois - or more precisely, "Jiizas - di buk we Luuk rait bout im".

The sound of the creole, developed from English by West African slaves in Jamaica's sugar plantations 400 years ago, has an electrifying effect on those listening.

Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
The language is what defines us as Jamaicans, it is who we are - patois-speakers”
End Quote
The Rev Courtney Stewart

Several women rise to testify, in patois, to what it means to hear the Bible in their mother tongue.

"It's almost as if you are seeing it," says a woman, referring to the moment when Jesus is tempted by the Devil.

"In the blink of an eye, you get the whole notion. It's as though you are watching a movie… it brings excitement to the word of God."

The Rev Courtney Stewart, General Secretary of the West Indies Bible Society, who has managed the translation project, insists the new Bible demonstrates the power of patois, and cites a line from Luke as an example.

'Vulgar' words

It's the moment when the Angel Gabriel goes to Mary to tell her she is going to give birth to Jesus.

English versions read along these lines: "And having come in, the angel said to her, 'Rejoice, highly favoured one, the Lord is with you: blessed are you among women.'"

"Now compare that with our translation of the Bible," says Mr Stewart.

"De angel go to Mary and say to 'er, me have news we going to make you well 'appy. God really, really, bless you and him a walk with you all de time."

Mr Stewart says the project is largely designed to bring scripture alive, but it also has another important function - to rescue patois from its second-class status in Jamaica and to enshrine it as a national language.

Jesus will be born... Luke, chapter one, verses 26-28
"The language is what defines us as Jamaicans," insists Courtney Stewart. It is who we are - patois-speakers."

The patois Bible represents a bold new attempt to standardise the language, with the historically oral tongue written down in a new phonetic form.

For example the passage relating the angel's visit to Mary reads: "Di ienjel go tu Mieri an se tu ar se, 'Mieri, mi av nyuuz we a go mek yu wel api. Gad riili riili bles yu an im a waak wid yu all di taim."

The New Testament has been completed by a team of translators at the Bible Society in Kingston - working from the original Greek - who intend to publish it in time for the 50th anniversary of Jamaica's independence from Britain on 6 August next year.

Continued: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16285462

[John_fi_Skye]

[FBM]

Can you imagine what it would look like in Scottish Gaelic, tho?

[klr]

What's wrong with Gaelic (Scots, Irish or anything else)?

As for the Patois Bible ... it's even weirder than the Lolcats version.

[FBM]

What's wrong with Gaelic (Scots, Irish or anything else)?

Oh, nothing wrong with it. Incomprehensibility has its virtues, no?

Scottish Gaelic Bibles

Sample text from the new translation of Gospel of John in Gaelic:

John 1:1
Anns an toiseach bha am Facal, agus bha am Facal còmhla ri Dia, agus b' e am Facal Dia

http://www.scottishbiblesociety.org/sho ... lic-bible/

[klr]

The Lord's Prayer in Irish Gaelic

Ár n-Athair

Ár n-Athair atá ar neamh,
Go naofar d'ainim,
Go dtagfadh do ríocht,
Go ndéantar do thoil ar an talamh
mar a dhéantar ar neamh.
Ár n-arán laethúil tabhair dúinn inniu,
agus maith dúinn ár bhfiacha
mar a mhaithimidne dár bhféichiúna féin
Ach ná lig sinn i gcathú,
ach saor sinn ó olc

Now repeat that 500 times until you get it right ...

[FBM]

I think I'll just memorize Moby Dick in Navajo instead....

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Noalf bible next?

[Svartalf]

Can you imagine what it would look like in Scottish Gaelic, tho?

Nary the need, jist t'ink o'what it ud seound leyk in braid Scots.

[Svartalf]

And I knew that christianity was gay, but that's no reason to call you prophet jizz-ass

[Gawdzilla Sama]

And I knew that christianity was gay, but that's no reason to call you prophet jizz-ass

Unless he's a real lozzer.

[FBM]

Can you imagine what it would look like in Scottish Gaelic, tho?

Nary the need, jist t'ink o'what it ud seound leyk in braid Scots.

Do wut, now?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Can you imagine what it would look like in Scottish Gaelic, tho?

Nary the need, jist t'ink o'what it ud seound leyk in braid Scots.

Do wut, now?

Don' pay him no nevermind, he's one of them furriners. I heard 'bout 'em on the radio.

[FBM]

Can you imagine what it would look like in Scottish Gaelic, tho?

Nary the need, jist t'ink o'what it ud seound leyk in braid Scots.

Do wut, now?

Don' pay him no nevermind, he's one of them furriners. I heard 'bout 'em on the radio.

Ah tell yew whut...

[John_fi_Skye]

Can you imagine what it would look like in Scottish Gaelic, tho?

Nary the need, jist t'ink o'what it ud seound leyk in braid Scots.

It widnae soond like that oniwiy!