FaithLifestyleNewsRegional Bible being translated into Jamaican patois by: – December 28, 2011 Share Sharing is caring! Tweet Share
Flag of Jamaica. KINGSTON, Jamaica — 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, the BBC reported.The sound of patois, developed from English by West African slaves in Jamaica’s sugar plantations 400 years ago, has an electrifying effect on those listening.“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, insisted the new Bible demonstrates the power of patois, and cited a line from Luke as an example.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,” said 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.”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. The patois Bible represents a 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. But some traditionalist Christians say the patois Bible dilutes the word of God, and insist that patois is no substitute for English.Bishop Alvin Bailey, at the Portmore Holiness Church of God near Kingston, argues that patois is too limited a language to represent the nuances of Biblical text, and has to resort to coarse expressions to makes its meaning clear.“I don’t think the patois words can effectively communicate what the English words have communicated,” he said. “Even those (patois) words that we would want to use to fully explain what was in the original, are words that are vulgar.”Many others see the elevation of patois as a backward step for Jamaica, in a globalised world demanding English.Linguists at the University of the West Indies in Kingston, who have been working on the translation, insist that patois is an authentic language, with its own tenses and consistent grammatical rules.According to the BBC, a bastion of ‘proper’ English, in Jamaican patois plural nouns are made with the word “dem” (“they” or “them” in English) — so the plural of “uoli prafit” (“holy prophet”) is “uoli prafit dem”, and the plural of “enimi” (“enemy”) is “enimi dem”The past tense is marked by the word “did” — so “he lived” is, in patois, “im did liv”The future tense can be marked with ” a go” or “wi” (“will”) — “Im a go siev” is “He will save”, and “Yu wi nuo” is “You will know”Examples:Jos laik ou im did taak chuu im uoli prafit dem — Just like how he talked through his holy prophetsIm a go siev wi fram wi enimi dem — He will save us from our enemiesSo yu wi nuo se wa yu ier a chuu – So you will know that what you hear is true.By Caribbean News Now contributor Share 38 Views no discussions
Published on February 12, 2014 at 10:21 pm Contact Meredith: mhnewman@syr.edu | @MerNewman93 Facebook Twitter Google+ [View the story “Syracuse defeats Pitt 58-56 ” on Storify] Comments
For pick recommendations for your pools, check out TeamRankings’ NFL Pick ’em Pool Picks. TeamRankings also provides data-driven College Bowl Pick ’em Picks and NFL betting picks.Week 14 Fantasy Rankings:Quarterback | Running Back | Wide Receiver | Tight End | D/ST | KickerExpert Week 14 NFL Picks Advice: Pick ’em poolsAs always, we’ll break down five noteworthy Week 14 games that stand out because of win odds and pick popularity. Deciding which way you want to go on these games should be top of mind when you make your Week 14 picks.Keep in mind that, we are not saying you should make all of these picks. The best picks for your specific football pick ’em pool depend on multiple strategy factors, such as the number of entries in your pool, whether it uses confidence points; and whether it offers season prizes, weekly prizes, or both. Our Football Pick ’em Picks product helps figure out the best strategy for you.Reminder: The w in odds and pick popularity data below is subject to change between now and kickoff. For the latest numbers, our pick ’em product updates multiple times per day with the latest information.Favorites At A Reasonable PriceNew York Giants (at Washington)The Giants are 3.5-point favorites on the road against the Redskins. New York pulled off a big upset against the Bears last week, but things didn’t go as well for the Redskins. Washington QB Colt McCoy was injured in last week’s loss to Philadelphia and is done for the season. With original starter Alex Smith already on IR, the Redskins were forced to rely on third-string journeyman Mark Sanchez. Given Washington’s quarterback issues, it’s not surprising that betting markets have the 4-8 Giants with almost 63-percent implied win odds in this game. At roughly 70-percent pick popularity nationwide, the Giants are not being significantly overrated by the public relative to their win odds, meaning that there are certainly way better upset picks on the board this week than Washington.Pittsburgh Steelers (at Oakland)The Steelers are 11-point favorites on the road against Oakland in Week 14. Pittsburgh is coming off a three-point loss to the Chargers in a game with playoff seeding implications and looking look to bounce back against the Raiders. As such big underdogs, the risk/reward profile for Oakland as an upset pick just doesn’t look great here, with Pittsburgh having Vegas-implied winning odds of nearly 84 percent. In comparison, the Chiefs are just about as popular a pick as the Steelers this week, but KC is significantly less likely to win. So, you’d be foolish to even consider Oakland as an upset pick instead of a team like Baltimore.Green Bay Packers (vs. Atlanta)Green Bay is favored by five points at home against the Falcons this week. The Vegas-implied win odds for the Packers are about 67 percent, while 77 percent of the public is selecting them in pick’em pools. Although technically “overrated” like almost all favorites are, Green Bay’s pick popularity is comparably lower than teams like the Texans and Titans even though those other teams aren’t favored by as many points. The Packers fired head coach Mike McCarthy after their Week 13 loss to Arizona, so the public may be more wary than usual to pick a favorite that is in a coaching transition.MORE TEAMRANKINGS: Intro to data-driven NFL picksValue GamblesIf you’re behind in your pick ’em pool and need to make up some points, time is now running out. Although it’s a risky strategy, at this point you’re probably going to be best served by taking some risks on significantly underrated underdogs that still have a reasonable chance to win.Chicago Bears (vs. LA Rams)The Bears are three-point underdogs at home against the Rams. After an overtime loss to the Giants last week, Chicago’s pick popularity is a paltry 15 percent. However, the betting markets have Chicago’s win odds at 41 percent, and our models are slightly more optimistic about their winning chances. While the Rams have the best record in the NFL, the Bears also have a lot to play for, as they are currently leading the NFC North and have the third best record in the NFC. A nearly 27-point difference in win odds and pick popularity is a very large differential, making the Bears are very solid consideration for pick ’em pools with weekly prize payouts as well as season prize pools if you are trailing in the standings.New York Jets (at Buffalo)The Jets are 3.5-point underdogs at Buffalo this week. The Bills and the Jets are among the weakest teams in the league, and both are looking to bounce back from four-point losses last week. With Buffalo having home field, it’s understandable that the Bills are the favorites, but the Jets still have Vegas-implied win odds of around 38 percent, which is substantially higher than their nationwide pick popularity of only 13 percent. Picking the Jets is a significant gamble, but if they pull off the upset, the payoff should be significant in terms of gaining ground on your opponents.If you want to take a little less risk than the Jets, the Vikings (at Seattle) also look like a good upset pick from a risk/reward standpoint. And if you really want to go for it, there’s a ton of value on San Francisco (home vs. Denver) — but the 49ers only have about a 35-percent chance to winWhich Of These Five Picks Should You Make in Week 14? Maybe all, maybe some. Sorry to sound wishy-washy, but the fact is it takes a lot of number-crunching to get to the right answer for you.We built our Football Pool Picks to handle the math and figure out the data based on your specific pool. Just answer a few quick questions about your setup (type of pool, number of entrants, weekly vs. yearly prizes, etc.), and our picks product will customize Week 14 recommendations to give you the biggest edge.If you’re in college bowl pool or planning on betting NFL Week 14 games, check out our College Bowl Pick ’em Picks and NFL betting picks. The experts from TeamRankings are back to help inform your Week 14 NFL picks with value-based strategy advice that can help you dominate your pick ’em pools. For more tips and a quick primer on how our data-driven method can help you win weekly and yearly prizes, check out our article on NFL pick ’em pool strategy.This analysis is provided by TeamRankings.com, the only site that customizes pick recommendations to give you the best chance to win your football pools. Last season, 81 percent of TeamRankings subscribers reported winning a prize in a football pick ’em contest. So far this year, their subscribers have already won nearly 1,300 weekly pool prizes.