Why Rushing Translation is a Bad Brain Idea

 

Haven’t we all been in this situation?

You’re sitting in a training or in a Bible study and you are slightly confused.

“Does anyone have any questions? Are we all understanding?” The instructor asks the group.

You look around the room and no one else raises their hand, no one else asks a question, so you stay quiet and act as if you too understand. You even nod in agreement.

I’ve been there. What are we doing in that moment?

Meet Fear! This purple guy with the bow tie is one of the five emotions in Riley’s head in the extraordinary Pixar movie ‘Inside Out’. He’s described as being “literally the definition of being scared. He cares very much about Riley being safe, and not being embarrassed.”[i]

When the little girl, Riley, sees a spider, Fear is the one in control. Fear rushes to the emotion control panel in her brain and pushes as many buttons as he can, setting off every alarm. His one hair curls and he falls over backwards. As a result, Riley runs screaming from the spider.

Fear of a spider is a socially appropriate form of fear. For many speaking up when everyone else is silent is terrifying and holds many social consequences. Looking like the only one who doesn’t ‘get it’ is ego-negative. We strive to protect our ego.

“I can sorta figure it out, so I will say that I understand, even though I’m not really sure I do.”

Cognitive Distortion #1 Courtesy Bias The tendency to give an opinion that is more socially correct than one’s true opinion, so as to avoid offending anyone or looking stupid.

That’s okay when you’re in friend’s living room studying the Bible or figuring out how to hold the weights in exercise class, but what if we’re learning CPR, studying to be an electrician or translating the Bible?

We are so affected by others in our group, whether we’re high schoolers in the hallways, children at a birthday party, or adults in front of other Christian peers wanting to look our best. [ii]

The people who are chosen for translating the New Testament using the MAST process will have egos just like the rest of us do. They will want to come up with the deepest insight, have the quickest answer or pray with the most Holy Spirit power. Maybe they are there volunteering because they hope this will turn into a job or career.

Cognitive Distortion #2 Dunning-Kruger Effect The tendency for unskilled individuals to overestimate their own ability and the tendency for experts to underestimate their own ability.

Could they be wanting to look good in front of their in-laws at church, but not really have the language skills to match the difficult task?

These are all challenges to the ego that can’t be overcome when trying to rush through the translation in two weeks in order to “translate the Scriptures faster than anyone in history!”[iii]

It’s called ‘groupthink’ when we go along with the group in order to fit in[iv]. Healthy groups, churches and companies work hard to avoid groupthink and instead focus on team roles, healthy relationships and open communication.

Cognitive Distortion #3 Groupthink The phenomenon that occurs within a group in which the desire for conformity in the group results in an irrational or dysfunctional  decision-making outcome.

These challenges to our ego can be overcome by taking time to train, by taking time to see a person’s strengths and weaknesses, by seeing if they stick with it over the long haul, by prayer, and growing maturity.

PRECONCEPTIONS

Cognitive Distortion #4 Law of the Instrument An over-reliance on a familiar tool or method, ignoring or under-valuing alternative approaches. “If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”

My brother, Kurt, is in the final months of his Doctorate in Psychoanalysis. (Soon there will be two Dr. Fabians in the family.) Kurt is always having deep insights about my behavior and sees things from a unique perspective. I’m learning about this strange thing called ‘preconceptions’, and how it works in my own life. When we ‘perform’ in front of others there is always pressure. The pressure comes from: culture, society, peers, superiors, evaluations, output, and myriad other sources. When we feel pressure, we resort to doing a task in the way we have always done it–in spite of newer options that we aren’t sure of or aren’t confident with. We can’t see that situation with fresh eyes.

We will approach any new project with preconceptions, repressed patterns, and our cultural biases. All we have is our own experiences to draw on.  We can only draw upon the experiences we have had ourselves:

·         The most important experiences are our childhood experiences.

• Education – We can learn a great deal about a subject by studying it, thus increasing our field of experience.
• Reading – Along with formal education, we can also expand our pool of experiences by reading the experiences of others.
•  Other media – We can learn a great deal as well by watching movies, TV shows, playing games, listening to the radio and sensory experiences.
• Life experiences – traveling, having adventures, learning new skills, absorbing foreign languages or cultures, eating novel foods.
•  Forming relationships with people and talking about ourselves with them.

Those are the most impactful ways to broaden our horizons.

If we would value these things when evaluating an employee for our company or ministry, then why wouldn’t Wycliffe Associates value these things when trying to translate the Bible? Do we want people who will translate word for word, or people who can understand the message and meaning of the Word and make it resonate at the heart level of their own people?

SUBCONSCIOUS

Cognitive Distortion #5 Irrational Escalation The phenomenon where people justify increased investment in a decision, based on the cumulative prior investment, despite new evidence suggesting that the decision was probably wrong.

Our subconscious is another thing in our own psychology that we can use as a tool for us or allow it to work against us and trample us.  My husband, Matthew, dislikes his subconscious because the trauma from his childhood plays a big part in his life today. In his childhood his subconscious formed patterns that protected him. Those patterns keep him stuck as an adult. Learning new patterns of thinking is a process he is bravely plowing through over years of hard work.

But our subconscious can work for us. By engaging in judgment-free brainstorming with others, the free exchange of ideas can, subconsciously, stimulate our brains to generate new ideas that we couldn’t have come up with consciously on our own.

Thinking about something in the moment may not produce results, but if we wait, sleep on it, give our subconscious the space and time to work, we may come up with a novel solution, or reach a deeper understanding.

Kurt Fabian said, “Ideas get processed when ideas are left alone. We think of new solutions. We don’t forget the problem.” It was after years of looking for the right word to describe the Key Term of ‘covenant’ in Nabak that Kondo Singgema came up with the word ‘knot’ as a good translation because it was a culturally appropriate way that you could form an alliance with someone. That word was used in the title of the New Testament “God’s New Knot.”

This dynamic, creative, culturally appropriate solution came only after struggling with the issue over time. It’s healthy to wonder and discuss. Serious questions should be encouraged.

The lightning speed translation promoted by Wycliffe Associates MAST method does not allow room for the translator to question, set aside or bounce ideas off each other.

This is not healthy, and it will not result in a dynamic translation.

 

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[i] https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Fear

[ii] All the definitions of the cognitive distortions came from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases

[iii]  “Please join us in praying: Seven key prayers” Brochure

[iv] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWEvJciU0Zc