"Precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little." Isaiah 28:10
"Precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little and there a little." Isaiah 28:10
I recall some time ago I was working full, time plus another full-time job after returning from work looking after an elderly lady whom I was staying with. This made finding time for translation work very difficult, but I knew in my heart that translating the words of Christian Science means so much more than just translating from one language to another. The fruit of this process will be transformed into blessing and open the avenue for many hungry seekers who are thirsting for spiritual food. With that in mind, every time I needed to meet fellow translators on Skype after coming back from work, it was always possible and easy. Either somebody else was around in the house, or the owner had been taken out to a concert, etc.
Another aspect of the translation process has been gaining the inspiration and deeper understanding of the words of Mary Baker Eddy. The meaning of each word of our leader was thoroughly studied and researched 10 times more than any time previously when simply reading them, and this strengthened my understanding of her words tremendously.
Sharing ideas of inspiration with fellow translators, learning to love and respect each other, and letting divine Mind be the translator and Love be the messenger, has been another blessing received during the translation process. So often it is more challenging when there is more than one word to choose from, as different people have different preferences based on their culture and background. Many times we simply leave the choices there and come back to it, but after a while there were simply too many of these choices in too many places. We all agreed to pray about this and designated a time for specific work. An idea came to me to work with S&H p340:23
One infinite God, good, unifies men and nations (translators); constitutes the brotherhood of man (translators); ends wars (indecisiveness with the right choice of word) ; fulfils the Scripture, "Love thy neighbor (my fellow translators and mankind) as thyself;" annihilates pagan and Christian idolatry (Christian Science is a practical truth that blesses all mankind), — whatever is wrong in social, civil, criminal, political, and religious codes (Whatever is wrong in the motive of our translation work, the sense of love among the translators, and my love for mankind); equalizes the sexes(human differences); annuls the curse on man(self-righteousness), and leaves nothing that can sin (unfulfilled), suffer, (individual's idea) be punished or (unity) destroyed.
When we got together, harmony and understanding were expressed more than ever before, and within a very short period of time, right ideas came.
The lesson learnt is that translation is not simply done by bi-lingual individuals, as nowadays Google Translator can translate a book in a second, but it is Love at work.