A humorous little tale highlighting the importance of proper translation of the Bible:
Isn’t the Bible in the regional or national language adequate? After attending a recent church service, Lika speakers in Democratic Republic of Congo answered a quick and confident, “No!”
During the Sunday service the Congolese pastor was preaching in French, the national language. An interpreter stood at the front of the church, ready to orally translate the pastor’s message into Lingala, the regional language, for the benefit of those not fluent in French.
The pastor read Matthew 14:25 from his French Bible, “And late in the night, Jesus came towards them, walking on the water.” The interpreter then translated the verse into Lingala. Unfortunately, the French words for “water” and “bone” sound the same. The interpreter had Jesus walking on bones rather on water! Many people were mystified and confused: How did Jesus walk on these bones? Who put the bones there for Jesus? Who had killed the people so Jesus would have bones to walk on?
Many left the service that day with irrelevant questions clouding their minds rather than understanding and awe filling their hearts. The Lika team is now thoroughly convinced of the need for mother tongue Scriptures.
Yes, clearly, a proper translation is needed! Jesus didn’t tread on bones.
Zwinglius Redivivus 
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I’d “bet” (although I don’t recommend the practice) that you knew I was going to respond as a translator! It is do “blessed” difficult sometimes! How do you translate to a tribe in the middle of a jungle in South America that “your hearts will the washed white as snow?” I guess it was better to say: “white as the coconut meat” because that it would be understandable to them. Interpreters sometimes are indeed “interruptors” and if they have not their own knowledge of the Bible, which is often the case, especially when they work for free and are chosen from the cheapest bunch of kids who happen to speak a language, the message goes down the proverbial drain! One classic example is the “boy” who was translating for an American into Portuguese and could not find the book of James because James is a name that it is not similar to ANY biblical name in the Portuguese language… . After a real long interruption (he is an interruptor) of consulting with the preacher, he discovered that James in the Portuguese Bible is Tiago!
I believe that the problem is two fold and it is more common that reported and more serious than we can deal with because it does change the message: First is lack of minimal theological knowledge on the part of the people chosen to be the “interruptors”. Second it is the fact that even the “main” preacher, the one being interpreted lacks biblical knowledge and Biblical language knowledge and, because he did not review and test his interruptor prior to preaching, he will never realized that his message is being butchered. On that note, speaking about hymns, this is a true fact reported int he site http://nethymnal.org about the translation attempt of the hymn “Rock of Ages:”
A missionary…complained of the slow progress made in India in converting the natives on account of explaining the teachings of Christianity so that the ignorant people could understand them. Some of the most beautiful passages in the Bible, for instance are destroyed by translation. He attempted to have [Rock of Ages] translated into the native dialect, so that the natives might appreciate its beauty. The work was entrusted to a young Hindu Bible student who had the reputation of being something of a poet. The next day he brought his translation for approval, and his rendering, as translated back into English, read like this:
Very old stone, split for my benefit,
Let me absent myself under one of your fragments.
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My dictation software is being my own “interruptor”… I just re-read my comment above and found some errors not commonly committed by me. For that I apologize! I meant “too blessed difficult” not “do blessed difficult”; then “it is more common THAN reported, not THAT reported”; then I meant “he will never realize” and not “he will never realized” – There may be others… Ain’t using dictation software anymore… if I can… I apologize for these mistakes.
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