Cree Translation Progress

Do you remember asking your parents "Are we there yet?" when you were on a long trip? Of course you did. We all did it. For over two decades we have been working on a new translation of the Bible into Plains Cree. It's been a long journey and although we aren't there yet, we have made some significant progress.

There is a translation that is over 150 years old and there were some rather unfortunate errors made. Dr. Stan Cuthand who has been a major contributor to this work told me that when this former translation was done the Cree were mainly hunter/gatherers and had no words in their language for domesticated animals. That was a problem. It showed up when they encountered the word donkey. What do you call something that you have no word in your language for? This is where an unfortunate choice of words was made. The decision was made to substitute the name of another long-eared animal and donkey became jack rabbit. The story of the Triumphal Entry included Jesus coming into Jerusalem on the back of a jack rabbit.

On May 19 a number of people gathered at Queen's House Retreat Centre to celebrate the release of the Gospel of Mark in Plains Cree. Many were people who had served on the translation team were on hand for this significant milestone. Hart Wiens, Director of Translation and Ted Seres, National Director brought greetings to the gathering. A number of media representatives covered the event.

Work will continue until the entire Bible has been translated and we will be able to say that we have made it to our destination.