Hearing the Wonders of God in our own Languages: Functional Equivalent Bible Translation in Southern Africa with special reference to Xhosa

Abstract

There is at least one translation of the complete Bible in 10 of the 11 official languages of South Africa. Originally missionaries from different countries made formal equivalent translations into the languages of the people among whom they ministered. Resulting from a conference at Turfloop in July 1967, mother-tongue speakers have made new functional equivalent translations in a number of Southern Africa languages. This article explains some of the features of functional equivalent translations, illustrated mainly from the Xhosa translation published in 1996.