We want to give a big thanks to all of you who partner with us in our ministry! We're excited to report that we've had three new financial partners join us since the last newsletter. We're encouraged to see steady progress toward our financial goals! Please pray that God would continue to provide more people and churches to serve in this way.
We know that many of you give sacrificially to our ministry and others, and we appreciate you very much! We love being able to serve full-time to bring literacy and the Good News to those who don't have access to it in their heart language and to encourage others who are doing the same.
“More people are reading the Holy Bible in electronic formats in their own languages than ever before.” – Michael Johnson
Michael, like Eric, works on getting Scriptures in different languages into digital formats. He is also an alum of GIAL, where Allison serves.
Eric’s Role
Eric still loves his role, working toward the goal of getting more scripture available in digital formats so people have access to them!
If you haven't seen it already, check out this short video that summarizes the technology Eric is working on:
“While visiting Thailand, I noticed that almost everyone had a smart phone and/or tablet computer at the night market. It seems that putting Scriptures on the Web, in eBooks, and in apps is a good idea.” – Michael Johnson
Allison’s Role
Allison has been busy with her new role as Alumni Relations Coordinator for the Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics (GIAL). She is only able to go to the office one morning a week most weeks (plus working a bit from home), so she's working less than 1/4 of the time of the previous person in that role. That means that she and her supervisor are thinking creatively to restructure the role to make it more doable on her schedule. Pray that this transition would go smoothly! She is eager to keep up with her fellow alumni around the world and to help them keep in touch with each other.
Update from Tanzania
Allison was excited to receive word recently that the book of Acts in the Jita language has been completed! She had the opportunity to check some of the chapters in Acts while she was there.
Enjoying the book of Acts in Jita
Accelerating Bible Translation (Software Demo)
One of the questions we’re most commonly asked is how Eric’s software can help accelerate Bible translation for languages that need it. Let’s take a look at one example of software that Eric has worked on in the past, Fieldworks Language Explorer, which I (Allison) used in Tanzania.
Remember that most languages that Bible translators are studying have never been written down before. Work often starts by coming up with an alphabet for the language and studying some of the grammar and vocabulary. One way to gather a bunch of words at once for analysis is to record a story and type it up into Fieldworks, as I have done for the Jita language below.
As I type the translation for each word in the interlinear view, the software remembers how I’ve translated each word (see 1.1) and suggests translations for future words (in blue – see 1.2). (In the “free” translation below each sentence, I typed the sentence in more natural English.)
It’s important to double check all the blue suggestions because words often have more than one possible meaning. As soon as I approve a suggestion, the blue highlight disappears.
The best part: each time you enter a meaning for a word, it is automatically added to the lexicon, which can be used to produce a dictionary! Tools like these make Fieldworks extremely useful in keeping track of language data and saving time as you study and analyze a language that may have never before been analyzed! I hope to talk more about other things you can do with Fieldworks next time!
P.S. In case you didn’t guess, Rabbit is a deceitful character in many African stories, much as foxes tend to be deceitful in some of our folk stories.
Sarah's Playpen
Sarah is almost 18 months old and currently enjoys climbing, running, turning in circles, and expanding her vocabulary. Some of her latest sentences: “What’s that?” “There it is.” “Pop balloon?” “There [you] go.” “Go outside?” “Love you, Daddy.”
Serving together in Him, Eric, Allison & Sarah Pyle
Write gifts out to:
Wycliffe Bible Translators, P.O. Box 628200, Orlando, Florida 32862-8200 (1-800-992-5433) Please include this separate note: "preference for the ministry of Eric & Allison Pyle #226983"
