9And they sang a new song with these words: “You are worthy to take the scroll and break its seals and open it. For you were slaughtered, and your blood has ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. 10And you have caused them to become a Kingdom of priests for our God. And they will reign on the earth.”
Revelation 5:9-10.
- Christ’s blood has ransomed people for God from every language.
Do languages matter? Should we consider language in addition to tribe? If so why? Isn’t it valid to say as some claim, just choose one from tribe, language, people and nation? We know that God loves all people and wants all to come to a saving knowledge of Him through Christ. So why the four terms? Just choose one; ah but which one? I told you in the previous Gem according to some authorities there are 5,000 tribal groups in the world. If you search “how many languages in the world?” you will get a variety of responses from:-
- 6,000 [EF]
- 6.500 [WorldDatainfo]
- 7,102 [AbroadLink]
- 7,106 [LinguaEdu]
- 7,139 [Ethnologue]
- 7,394 [Ethnologue]
Many sources play it safe by saying “There are over 7,000 languages spoken in the world today.” How do you determine the distinction between tribal groups? One definitive way is by using ‘language’. If they speak the same language, then surely they belong to the same tribe? Well, it is not that clear cut. Even the world wide statistics for languages currently spoken are not fixed. Oh yes there is variation between sources, but even SIL’s Ethnologue demonstrates a confusing pattern in publishing the total of spoken languages in the world.
For those who want more information click on this link.
The latest figures based on SIL’s Ethnologue 1st September 2023 declare there are 7,394 languages spoken in the world. That is different from the figure in the list above based on the edition of Ethnologue before it. Having used Ethnologue as my source for a number of years, the variation between editions would often surprises me. The total can increase or decrease. Why is that?
Language is one of the major determining factors to communicating the Gospel, let alone enabling the recipients to read or hear the Gospel of God for themselves. Language is also the prime determining factor in communication between tribes. Therefore it has to be a prime factor in determining the line of demarcation between tribal groups. Speaking the same language is what makes you part of the group or not. Thus Wycliffe / SIL spend considerable time conducting language surveys to determine the language distribution in a particular region and the degree of cognancy between the vernacular languages. Can Language A communicate adequately with Language B or not? Do we need two Bible translation projects in this area or just one? Are they different languages or two dialects of the same language? It sounds simple, but it is not. In the area of Sulawesi where I carried out language surveys, there was language chaining north to south and east to west. The degree of cognancy varied greatly such that some local, neighbouring vernacular language groups could communicate well while others could not.
On one such survey I came across two villages or hamlets where I found an enclave of people who spoke a different language from the language around them. Their language of Limolang was unique to them and different from Tae’ spoken by the groups around them in the southern part Kabupaten Luwu. Tae’ was different again from Rongkong spoken in the north-western part of region, which bordered the Torajan language across the mountains. The basic word list was very different and the grammatical structure was different. These villagers begged me to live with them and study Limolang in order to archive their language for posterity. Their children refused to speak Limolang, preferring instead to speak the Tae’ language used by the kids in school with them. The elders could see the Limolang language would die out within a generation if their stories and their language were not recorded. My motivation for working in this area was not to archive a language that was in the process of language death. I told them I would ask at the University if there were any graduate level students who were willing to undertake such an endeavour. But alas for these Limolang people, I never found anyone willing to undertake such work. I reported Limolang as a vernacular language which did not need a translation project.
Wycliffe target the languages of wider communication as a priority in order to reach a wider audience. But where a tribal group has no language of wider communication which they can understand and there is no Bible or New Testament available in their language then we consider starting a project among them.
Des and Jenny Oatridge’s story of translating the New Testament and parts of the Old for the Binamarien people of Papua New Guinea is a remarkable one (Gem 772). I wrote up the story of the Binamarien in Gem 772 to highlight the power of genealogies. As you read in the story through the link I provided, people asked Des why he and Jenny bothered to spend all that time translating the New Testament for as small a tribal group as the Binamarien; only 110 people. Des had wanted to work with a small people group. The Binamarien had numbered 3,000 several decades before but due to intertribal warfare their numbers had been declining. The enemy tribes around them, the Gadsups and Azeras attacked regularly and stole their crops and their yams. At the time when Des and Jenny were considering which group to live with, Sisia and other Binamarien came to talk to them about coming to Ubandeenai in the Markham Valley of the Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea.
In a similar way many have asked me as Director at the time, why would Wycliffe send a team to such a small group of people? Des used to answer that question, “Well, why not? When representatives from the tribe came and asked you to live with them and translate the Bible into their language and you are wanting a small language group, the pieces just seemed to fit. In answer to that same question I would ask, “Are the Binamarien included in the “every language” of Revelation 5:9? I believe so! It is not us who choose; it’s God who appoints and sends us.” Des used to say to those who persisted with their questioning, “Well have you saved 110 people?” At which point the questions ceased. God is no respecter of wealth, might and strength of numbers. He pays no heed to riches, power and intelligence. It is God who chose the Binamarien and he chose a New Zealand plumber and his Australian wife to answer the call. There are now 1,200 Binamarien speakers. The work and dedication of the Oatridges brought this language group back from the brink of extinction and gave them a reason to live.
God also chose the Matigsalug who are a subgroup of the Manobo languages of the Philippines. There are 5,000 monolingual speakers of Matigsalug Manobo living along the Salug River (Davao River) on the Island of Mindanao and in South Central Bukidnon and N. E. Cotabato. There are a further 45,000 bilingual speakers of the language. The Matigsalug were looked down on and despised because their language was not prestigious in the eyes of others. More politically and economically viable language groups didn’t consider them worth helping, much less worthy of a complete Bible in their language. As of 2023, the Matigsalug full Bible was dedicated thanks to a team of seven Matigsalug translators trained by Wycliffe NZ couple Robert and Margaret Hunt and others. The Matigsalug now have pride in their own language. They are one of the most recent language groups to dedicate their own complete Bible version of God’s Word in Matigsalug. This people group are counted among the 736 languages with the complete Bible. Once more it’s God who appoints and sends.
You could ask, “Aren’t the Limolang worthy of being included among the languages of Revelation 5:9?” Yes, certainly but it is the Limolang themselves who must choose. Just like many speakers or readers of other languages around the world who choose not to show interest in God’s Word, the Bible. It is their choice which sets them apart. In answer to my prime question, yes language does matter and every language group needs to at least have the choice of access to God’s Word.
If you talk to man in a language he understands that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language that goes to his heart.
Nelson Mandela
Language is the road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going.
Rita Mae Brown
You can never fully understand one language until you understand at least two.
Geoffrey Willans
The limits of my language determine the limits of my world.
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Language is good for other things too:
“Are you a member of the tribe of Ephraim?” they would ask. If the man said, “No, I’m not,” they would tell him to say “Shibboleth.” If he was from Ephraim, he would say “Sibboleth,” because people from Ephraim cannot pronounce the word correctly.
Judges 12:5-6
The past is always tense, the future perfect.
Zadie Smith