Since we returned from Italy, we have been thinking about the things we learned and our next steps for moving forward. The things we learned ranged from travel tips to thoughts about my future as a translation consultant. I learned a lot about how (and how NOT) to help a 3 year old make a major transition. I also learned as much about the book of John as I did about the process of consulting! For now, I would like to share mostly what we learned about our future with Pioneer Bible Translators.

I think the greatest benefit of this trip (aside from the training itself) was gaining a clearer understanding of the role that Pioneer Bible Translators has for me, and how I can fill that role. I knew that I would be a “consultant”, but as in most profession“Pensiari Italiani”s, that word is a little ambiguous, so this trip added some more definition to my understanding.

In Pioneer Bible Translators, consultants work as a “second pair of eyes” to check a translation. So, a translation team works to draft a text, do their own accuracy checking, then check it for clarity and naturalness by testing with native speakers of the language, and then ask the consultant to check it. The consultant “pre-checks” the text first, meaning that they look through it and send notes to the translation team before meeting with them. This was what our training was for in Italy, and all I thought I would be doing for Pioneer Bible. I assumed a more well-qualified consultant would continue working with the team to further revise the translation, and travel to meet with the team in person when appropriate. So one of the things I learned is that they wanted to see my skills to see if I would fit well as one of these “more-qualified” consultants. And what they said at the end was, “We want you!”

This is a really exciting role for me, and one I didn’t think I would be able to do if I hadn’t completed a translation. I will need some further education in order to fill this role, both on the field and in classes. We are considering right now what the possibilities are for both of these requirements!

I will also have to travel for this role. I would be working with several different translation teams, and I would travel to visit them at different points in their translation. We are considering now how much travel I can commit to in order to best serve the teams and best care for Jamie.

We were so thankful to have the opportunity to learn the skills needed for pre-checking as a consultant, and so thankful to have some clearer definition for the next steps! It makes me even more excited to begin working full time!