Chinook Bible translation? No banana. Yet. But…
One of the many urban legends about this language that hold on to a vigorous life of their own is that there was a Bible translation into Chinook Jargon.
Nope.
Selected parts of the Bible were translated, for example the rare St Mark’s Kloosh Yiem. (A fairly awful job, unfortunately.)
There’s as usual more material for those who can read Chinook shorthand. Bishop Durieu’s Chinook Bible History is massive, though it only outlines what’s in the Bible.
There’s also plenty of OT & NT stuff scattered through the countless pages of Kamloops Wawa issues.
That all is useful for the purpose.
Even better may be the shorthand Chinook Book of Devotions Throughout the Year. (It too is bound by its nature to be excerpt-only in format.)
But the Bible has not actually been translated into Chinook Wawa.
I’m considering fundraising to pay me to “Mamook Chinook the Good Book”.
(Kickstarter? Indiegogo? Grant money? Koch brothers?!)
Working drafts, as I make my way through the Bible, would provide a massive stream of material for this blog. They’d also invite the input of the now fairly strong Jargon community.
I wonder what folks think of this idea?
I know that Grandfather Roy Wilson (Itswoot Wawa Hiyu) of the Cowlitz tribe has translated several books of the bible in CW, and has had them published.
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My sister is a Wycliffe Bible translator, has spent virtually her whole adult life – she’s in her fifties – working on the New Testaments in several local varieties of Mazatec. If you’re serious about this project, Wycliffe and their twin Summer Institutes of Linguistics may have resources you can use.
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Van, I now have Roy’s little Gospel of John book…interesting…
Haruo, I like your thinking. I’m open to anyone who will fund an atheist bible translator 🙂
Dave R.
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