Lost in Translation

Ben, Meredith and I have been in El Salvador for almost a month now. Our main work here in El Salvador has been working with the different mission teams who come each week. The Methodist Church here has connections with UMC churches in the United States, and these churches raise money to come to El Salvador and work. Some churches send teams more than once a year, but I think most come for one week. In 2013, 30 teams will have taken trips here to Ahuachapan. It costs each person about $1600 to come. If I remember right, that’s about double what I had to raise when I did a one week mission trip to El Salvador eight years ago. So not only are groups of 10-20 people coming down to do mission work each week, but each person is being supported by many many other people. Lots of prayers, money, time, and work are being put into the church here, and they are doing good work.

In the mornings, Ben, Meredith and I take Spanish classes, and in the afternoon we help these groups with whatever work they are doing. Most of the work consists of construction, vacation Bible schools, medical clinics, and (this week) food ministry. We act as translators most of the time.

Let me tell you this- translating is hard. I have the utmost respect for our two full-time translators, William and Gaby. 

William, making a party hat at VBS in La Gloria

Gaby and I before VBS at Nueva Jerusalen

They are both Salvadoreño and speak English very well. I admire their abilities. I constantly have to remind myself that I am in fact doing a good job for someone who has only been learning Spanish for 8 weeks. But I’ll say it again- translation is hard.

Very few team members speak Spanish. I completely understand- when I came in high school, I knew no Spanish. I relied on our translator for everything, much like the groups coming in rely on us. It’s a lot of pressure, but I really enjoy it. Being able to communicate with people in their native language is really exciting.

I’ve worked as a translator at various Bible schools each week. I enjoy working with children, I always have, and trying to communicate in Spanish with kids is actually pretty fun. The little ones are my favorite because we have about the same vocabulary level, haha. But really, I am getting the hang of how to tell children directions in Spanish (color this, glue this here, cut this here), and when we’re doing the crafts we just chat. I like getting to know them, learning about their families, how old they are, if they go to school. Just like children in the U.S., when you show an interest, they feel appreciated.

Translating at the medical clinic was a touch more difficult. The first time I translated for a medical clinic I had Gabby right by my side, and she filled in the things I either didn’t understand or didn’t know how to say. However the second time I translated, it was all me. Luckily, I worked really well with the doctor I was paired with, we had a good rhythm, and I felt much more confident. Sadly, that was the same week a parasite ate me, and I was out of commission for a few days. Well darn.

I think by far the hardest thing for me to translate is prayers. This is for two reasons- the first is that I don’t feel like I’m truly praying when I pray in Spanish. It’s still too new, and I don’t understand enough of it to feel like I’m praying. I’m too nervous. The second reason translating prayers is hard is because I don’t quite know the vocabulary yet. For example, when we say in English “We give you thanks for this day,” I would off the top of my head translate this as “Gracias por este día,” when the more correct language (and the language of prayer) is “Te damos gracias por este día.” It’s small things like this that I don’t know yet that make my translated prayers sound uber choppy. Also, prayers can use really complicated language, language that I don’t know, so often my translated prayers are a bit simpler. Luckily, God probably doesn’t care how eloquent my prayers are. God knows what’s up without me saying it out loud, but I still want to get it right for the sake of the people I’m translating to. When we did home visits/ food ministry this week (giving out big bags of food to people in a very poor area), I felt perfectly comfortable translating questions and answers of the people we visited, but when it came time to pray I asked Gaby to help. She said to me today that she felt the Holy Spirit moving through her as she prayed today, and she said she loves translating prayers. That’s a beautiful thing.

Definitely part of my hesitation in translating prayers is because I’m translating from English into Spanish. If it were the other way around, I would be more comfortable. My comprehension skills in Spanish are way better than my speaking skills (which is normal). Also, translating on the spot is difficult not matter what it is! But I look forward to improving my translating/speaking/comprehension skills during my last 2 weeks here.

Peace, Love,and Smiles,

Christa