Did He Really Say What I Said? The Challenge of Preaching Through an Interpreter...Continued from page 2

Timing
Related to the whole issue of style, is that of timing. For a start you need to realize that translation will at least double the time it takes to present your message. Often this is not such a great problem. Where congregations in the west are mostly happy with a 30 to 45 minute sermon, those in the third world are usually hungry. They generally want an hour at least, and two hours is often better.

However, as in the west, it is polite to check first how much time you will have, and factor in the time for interpretation. If people have to be out of a building by a certain time, your message is not going to be well received if it goes beyond that time.

One small thing you can do to help keep time down is to leave large slabs of Scripture reading to your interpreter. The people really don’t need to hear you read it in English; they just need to hear it in their own language.

The second issue with timing is phrasing. If you talk for too long before giving your interpreter a chance, there is a possibility he will lose track or what you are saying, and will only present a much abbreviated version. On the other hand, if you say too little you will probably find him looking at you strangely and urging you to go on, so he can get a better grasp of what you are saying. Remember, in some languages the sentence structure is different from ours, and he may need to hear the end of the sentence before he can translate the beginning.

Another stumbling block can be the pace of your speech. Native speakers of any language tend to speak more quickly than those for whom it is a second language. Not only that, but some of us tend to get excited about our message and catch fire, rattling off words like bullets from a machine gun. Putting a lid on that can be difficult, but passion harnessed is no less passionate, and holding back a little will give your poor interpreter a chance to keep up.

Concentrate.
For most of us when preaching in English, we are caught up in our message, and flow along with it. When using an interpreter, it is a very different matter. If, like me, you don’t use notes, it can be difficult to maintain your momentum. It is all too easy to be distracted by what someone is wearing, or something about the building, or thoughts of the rest of your itinerary. This is particularly true for long translation segments, and another good reason for keeping your phrasing as short as possible without hindering the message.

One of my most difficult translation experiences was in Mumbai, on my first trip to India. Because they were drawing from a diverse cross-section of the community, my message had to be double translated. I spoke. Then my first translator spoke. Then the second translator spoke. Then it came back to me, by which time I was thinking, What on earth was I saying? It was a long night, in more ways than one!

Challenges in English
While most of my preaching in missions situations has been done through interpreters, occasionally I have been asked to preach or teach in English. This in itself offers some challenges. You are never really sure how much of the English language the hearers understand. You can’t always know by talking to them, because often people understand a language before they are able to speak it. You don’t want to insult them with baby talk, but at the same time there is no point in using language that is beyond their understanding.