Translaters

Our trip would have been very much the poorer and our teaching impossible if it were not for the translator. Chakreya is employed bt Normisjon to translate during the team trips. She is also an English teacher and has started a church due to the number of her students that were coming to faith.

When she translates for us what is being said in Khmer it is really easy to understand her. She is one of the best English speakers I have met here. She has also simultaneously translated all the teaching we have done. No mean feat! There have been three sessions each lasting a couple of hours per day.

Those of you who have ever tried simultaneous translation will know it is not as easy as it looks. Either you have to translate while the speaker is speaking and speak the translation at the same time as listening to what is being said so you can translate the next part. I promise you, it is enough to get you brain in a muddle. Or the speaker says a sentance or two then stops and waits for the translation to be given. This is what we have used in the teaching. Chakreya is such an excellent translator because she not only translates the words, she also translates what is being said in terms that are culturally appropriate, ie. she translates the meaning.


If you are lost, think about it like this, if I translate 17th May from norwegian to english, I translate what is being said, a date. All the meaning and cultural understanding gets lost. Or if I translate Remembrance day into norwegian, just translating the words looses the meaning in british culture.

Steve says when she translates his sermons his preaching just gets better. That is because she is apssionate about the topic, faith and Jesus and she conveys it.

Chakreya also notices when the people have glazed over and are struggling to concentrate. She then pops in a game mid-teaching. Cambodians love playing games! After the game which might only last a minute or two, we carry on where we left off. As I say, we would struggle to do this without such excellent translators as her.

Playing a game mid-session.

Dara has also translated quite a bit last week. He is studying a masters degree in Vietnam but has spent his college holiday working for the teams in lots of different ways. Another fantastic person we would struggle to be without.

Dara in action.















Sithuon has coordinated the trip and been responsible for it all running smoothly. He to is an amazing person who as well as being employed by Normisjon full-tme, leads a student church. He has seen lots of them become Christians in the past couple of years.



There is now a better internet connection and so I have been able to add a couple of pictures to the previous two posts.