Checking Manual

Introduction to Checking

The Need for Translation Checking

As part of the translation process, it is necessary that several people check the translation to make sure that it is clearly communicating the message that it should communicate. Several important factors are addressed in checking the translation.

One important reason for checking the translation is to affirm accuracy. The translator may not have understood fully the passage in the source text, and therefore not have communicated it clearly in his translation. Using tools such as commentaries and other translations can be helpful in confirming that the meaning is accurately understood and conveyed.

Another reason for checking is to affirm naturalness and flow. The person translating may not have used the most common venacular. Having others in the language community read it to check for flow will provide insight for correcting awkward wording.

Checking is also important to affirm consistant and correct grammar, punctuation and spelling. Often the translation is into a previously unwritten language, so translators and other team members may have to work together to agree on spelling and punctuation.

As soon as the translator has created a draft, he will begin to check it himself. Several layers of checking by others on the translation team will follow. Finally two other levels of checking outside the translation team are recommended. One will help others in the community to test the translation for naturalness and flow. The other will give theologians and scholars of various denominations the opportunity to provide recommendations.

Checking the Scripture may seem tedious, but it is well worth the time and effort. The translation improves with each new set of eyes that can provide feedback and recommendations.

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Authentic Assessment in Checking Scripture

Authentic Assessment is a process for evaluating the quality of a work. It is done by setting a standard for the quality and then relying on that standard as a measurement throughout the process of producing the work. This standard is called a rubric.

Translation teams work together to design a rubric of objective criteria that must be present for their scripture translation to be considered good. They use that rubric as they produce their translation and as they assess its quality. If they find that any part of the translation lacks a particular characteristic, they adjust the translation so that it will have that characteristic.

After the team has affirmed the quality of their translation, the community and church leadership also use the rubric to assess its quality. If they find that any part of the translation lacks a particular characteristic, they they tell the translation team who then compares the issue with the standard in the rubric to decide if changes need to be made.

Developing a rubric and using it from start to finish helps ensure that the translation is assessed by the same objective criteria from the very start of the project.

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Designing a Rubric for Bible Translation Quality

During the first few days of a MAST workshop, translation teams are guided through the process of developing an authentic assessment rubric for their translation project. Below are the instructions for creating this rubric, which then guides the checking process throughout the project.

1. Ask the translation team to choose a leader/representative of their language group to manage the rubric building process. Also look for an individual who is able to translate this rubric into English (it is possible to need double translation, first into the national language and then into English).
2. Ask the individuals on the team the following (each one should work on this on their own first.)
   
   • What is a good translation?
   • List at least ten qualities. Even twenty if you want to stretch.
   • Work together as a team to make one list that includes all the items from each individual’s list. Combine qualities that are the same and develop one master list of at least 10 qualities that everyone agrees on. The chosen leader will guide this process.
3. If everyone is new to this process, the team can refer to v-raft.com to review a sample rubric. Compare your rubric with the sample. Are elements missing from yours that need to be added? Are there extra elements you may not need to keep? After discussing these you are ready to move to step four.
   If a leader who has participated in this process before is available, he will review the team's rubric, determine if anything is missing, and ask questions to lead the group toward discovering and adding those traits. Some sample questions are:
   • If no one says that key words need to be translated accurately, ask "When you look at the language of scripture, what are some of the things that give scripture a strong sense of accuracy?" Keep asking until they express the "important words" (in some form) and then ask "should those be checked?"
   • If no one says that names need to be translated in a consistent way (ie—Jesus, Son of God, Jesus Christ, Christ Jesus), ask "what do you think about the different names of Jesus—are those important to be translated consistently with a good source text?"
4. Take the one group rubric and do the rest of the following steps as a team.
5. Define each of those items (verbally, and then record them). Each definition should be clear enough that anyone from that language group could utilize the rubric and understand the traits of quality.
6. Next, you are going to have a discussion of each of the traits on the list and ask:
   
   • How can you measure those items?
   • Express that each of these items needs to be put into a "yes or no" type of measure—how can you phrase each quality item into a "yes/no" result?
7. Next ask the group: How can you test those items? In other words, if a person who speaks the language were to later check a translated chapter, could they pick up that chapter, take the rubric and score each of the assessment elements listed?
8. Finally, ask the group the following:
   
   • How can you testify to those items if anyone at any time asked you the question "is this of good quality?"
   • If all of these traits in your translation were assessed and proved out as a "yes" within each chapter, would you have a good quality translation?
9. When possible, translate the rubric into English and share it at v-raft.com.

Below you will see a sample rubric created by following the steps above:

Sample Rubric

List Ten or More Characteristics (up to 20 if you can).

Accurate
Community Oriented
Clear
Grammatically consistent
Natural
Faithful to Original Languages
Authoritative
Historical
Equal
Acceptable
Trustworthy
Has Appropriate Familial Terms
Culturally Relevant

Combine or Condense the Characteristics. Then define them well.

Accurate
1. All key words are present (names, places, transitional statements, time identifiers
2. Key words are translated accurately
3. Nothing is added or missing from the text
4. The text reflects the author's intended meaning

Clear
1. The text is understood by a wide range of audiences.
2. The text uses common language.
3. Uses proper language structures (word placement, tenses, sentence structure)
4. Proper punctuation is used.

Natural
1. The text sounds like how we speak – uses common language
2. Sounds beautiful and academic
3. The text is efficient and effective in its communication

Faithful
1. We're not trying to add in theological, denominational or political meaning
2. True to the source text
3. Uses proper familial terms

Authoritative
1. The text reflects original meaning of the source texts
2. The text is confirmed by proper intermediary biblical source texts
3. The supporting texts are acceptable

Historical
1. Lines up with archeology
2. The text is supported by secular documents
3. Depicts historical facts accurately

Equal
1. The text reflects the author's original intent
2. Genres are the same (poetry, commands, encouragement, story telling)
3. The text uses equal political terminology
4. The tone and purpose are clear and identifiable

Notice that in condensing the qualities, some of the items on the list are combined so there are no longer 10 seperate qualities.

Turn each definition into a “yes/no” Measurement.

Accurate
1. Are all key words present? (names, places, transitional statements, time identifiers)
2. Are all key words translated accurately?
3. Was anything added or subtracted from the meaning of the text?
4. To the best of your ability to determine, does the text communicate the author's intended meaning?

Clear
1. Are you able to understand and comprehend what you are reading/hearing?
2. Are there too many or two few words that make it confusing?
3. Is the grammatical structure (word placement, tense and sentence structure) appropriate?
4. Is proper punctuation used?
5. Can the young and the old understand it?

Natural
1. Does the translation read/sound like someone would speak?
2. Does the translation sound beautiful to you when it is read?
3. Are there too many or two few words that make it confusing?
4. Are all words and phrases common?

Faithful
1. We're not trying to add in theological, denominational or political meaning Does this translation avoid political bias?
2. Does this translation avoid theological bias?
3. Does this translation avoid social and cultural bias?
4. Is this translation true to the source text, not denominational inclination?
5. Are literal familial terms used for Son of God and God the Father?

Authoritative
1. Does the meaning of the translated content reflect what is understood of the original language texts?
2. Is the text confirmed by intermediary source texts and biblical content?
3. Were the supplementary materials used to guide translation respectable and accepted?

Historical
1. Is the text supported by known facts of history, archeology, etc?
2. Are historical events and facts communicated accurately?
3. Are people and places accurately identified, transliterated, or defined?
4. Are steps taken to create clarity for unknown biblical terms (weights, units, financials, etc)?

Equal
1. Is the meaning the same and are the same implications drawn in this translation as they are in the source text?
2. Is what type of genre each chapter/book is able to be determined? (poetry, commands, encouragement)
3. Are political terms/expressions of authority/positions clearly articulated?
4. Are the tone and purpose clear and identifiable?

The questions are designed as yes/no. If the answer is yes 70% of the time, but no the other 30%, then the answer is "No". The question has to be answered yes 100% of the time to be "Yes". In this way areas that need attention (even down to the minute details) will get reviewed and edited.

View additional sample rubrics at v-raft.com.

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The Checking Levels

Checking levels are designed to expand the sphere of people who have the opportunity to check and affirm the quality of the translation. There are three levels of checking that lead to three levels of affirmation.

The three checking levels are as follows:

• Level One Check: done by the translation team.
• Level Two Check: done by the leaders of a local church and the Christian community.
• Level Three Check: done by the leaders of multiple local churches, a network of churches, or multiple evangelical denominations.

What the Checks Achieve

Each of the checking levels results in an affirmation level. The checking levels as explained in this manual are a guide for affirming quality and expanding the exposure of a new translation.

During a MAST workshop the translators do the Level One Check by engaging in the checking steps (steps 5-8) as a team. This platform assures that the individual's work is edited by other members. Additionally, these steps give team members the responsibility of working together to agree on and affirm the final product. Once this is done, the translation has reached Affirmation Level One.

At this point, the team is encourageed to print or otherwise publish their translation so that it can be immediately useful.They are also invited to upload their translation to the Wycliffe Associates content server.

Also at this point, the translation team and church leaders will determine what further checking and subsequent affirmation levels should be reached.

Level Two Check is done by the church leaders and other Christian members of the community. When any needed changes have been made and the leaders and members have affirmed the quality of the translation, the translation has reached Affirmation Level Two.

Finally, some translation teams may wish to have their work reviewed and affirmed by a network of denominational leaders and scholars. When any needed changes have been made and the network of leaders and scholars has affirmed the quality of the translation, the translation has reached Affirmation Level Three.

How Affirmation Levels Are Used

• Translations that reach Level One Affirmation can be made available to others on the Bible in Every Language website.
• Translations that reach Level Three Affirmation can be used as source texts for other translation projects.

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Church Authority to Check Translation

Checking Authority and Process

Explanation

The church in each people group has the authority to decide for themselves what is and what is not a good quality translation of the Bible in their language. Authority to check and validate a Bible translation (which is constant) is separate from capacity, or the ability to carry out the process of checking a Bible translation (which can be increased). The authority for determining quality belongs to the church, independent of their current ability, experience, or access to resources that facilitate the checking of Bible translations. So while the church in a language group has the authority to check and validate their own Bible translation, tools and resources available on bibleineverylanguage.org are designed to ensure that the church also has the capacity to check the quality of their Bible translation using an excellent process.

This model proposes a layered approach to affirming the quality of a translation, designed to reflect three general levels of church authority within a people group:

• Authority Level 1: the church-based translation team
• Authority Level 2: the leaders of the local church along with other members of the language community
• Authority Level 3: the leaders of multiple local churches, a network of churches, or multiple evangelical denominations

Every check on the translation will be guided by the authentic assessment rubric that is created by the translation team to express the essential qualities of a good translation.

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Affirmation Level One

Affirmation by Translation Team

The intent of this level is to affirm the agreement of the translation team with standard Christian doctrine, as well as with the guidelines for ensuring the accuracy of the translation itself. Publishing content at this level makes it available to members of the language community and provides an open invitation (implied or direct) to them to suggest improvements to the translation.

To achieve this level, the translation team asserts that the Statement of Faith is an accurate reflection of their own beliefs and that the translated content is also in harmony with it.

The translation team asserts that the translation has been done in accordance with the MAST process and that they have made use of available exegetical and translation checking resources in the translation process, including the Translation Notes and Translation Words.

An explanation of the steps followed during level one checking are available at Level One Check.

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Affirmation Level Two

Affirmation by Community

The intent of this level is two-fold:

1. to affirm the effectiveness of the form of the language used in the translation, as determined by representatives of the language community
2. to affirm the accuracy of the translation, as determined by pastors or leaders from the local churches that will use it

At this level, the model implements the concept of a "testimony of two or three witnesses" in the checking process.

To achieve this level, the translation team will submit the translation to members of the language community that will use the translation. The language community will review the translation for clarity and naturalness. The team will also work with church leaders from the language community to review the translation for accuracy by checking it against the source texts, the exegetical resources, the Statement of Faith, and the Translation Guidelines.

The translation team will edit the translation based on these reviews so that the language community affirms that it is natural and clear, and the church leaders affirm that it is accurate.

The rubric created by the translation team will be used as a guide during this check. Specific steps to be taken for this level of checking can be found at Level Two Check.

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Affirmation Level Three

Affirmation by Church Leadership

The intent of this level is to affirm that the translation agrees with the intent of the original texts and with the sound doctrine of the Church historic and universal.

To achieve this level, the translation team will work with the highest leadership of the church that speaks the language to review the Scripture. It is best if these leaders represent as many of the major groups of churches (networks and denominations) that exist in the language community as possible. Level 3 is thus achieved by the mutual agreement of the leadership of multiple church networks.

The translation team will edit the translation so that the leadership of these church networks affirm that it is an accurate translation and will be accepted by their church fellowships.

The authentic assessment rubric will be used to guide this process. Specific steps for level 3 checking are available at Level Three Check.

Level 3 is completed when the translation has been thoroughly checked and affirmed by the leadership (or their delegates) of at least two church networks.

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Checking Process

Level One Check - Translation Team Check

Level One checking will be done primarily by the translation team; it can also include help from others in the language community. The translator or translation team should check their translation often (usually as soon as a whole chapter is drafted) so that they can correct mistakes as early as possible in the translation process. Sometimes a step will have to be repeated before moving on to the next step.

Translation teams are invited to upload Bible texts and biblical content to the online server after they reach Checking Level One. This enables the broadest reach of the content as an active project, with an open invitation to others in the language community (implied or direct) to help improve the translation.

Steps for level one checking:

These are the steps that the translation team must follow in order to achieve Checking Level One:

1. Once a portion has been drafted, the translator of that section will perform a self-edit, using the source text and other available tools to check the draft. For more information about how to do this see Self-Edit.
2. When the translator has completed the self-edit, another translator on the team will perform a peer-edit, carefuly comparing the translated text to the source text and using any other available tools to confirm the accuracy and meaningfulness of the translation. He may also provide feedback and comments on spelling, naturalness and flow. The person conducting the peer-edit does not have authority to make changes; his role is to provide feedback and suggestions to the translator of the draft who then makes changes as he deems necessary. For more information on how to conduct a peer-edit, see Peer-Edit.
3. The keywords of the passage are systematically checked against the list of key words in the available tool designed specifically to support this checking step. Alternatively, the translation team can create their own list of key words--abstract spiritual terms, historical and geographical terms and names--and carefully compare their drafted text to that list. This step is typically done by the translator and at least one other member of the translation team. For more information, see Key Word Check.
4. Each verse is carefully checked comparing the drafted text to the original source text, looking for any missing portions or added material. This check is typically done with the translator of the passage and at least one other member of the translation team--preferably a different member than assisted in the keyword check.

When these steps have been completed, edits have been incorporated into the translated portion, and the translation team is collectively satisifed with the product, it is considered level one checked. At this point, if the translation team desires to do so, they are invited to upload the translation to the Wycliffe Associates content server where the work can be seen on bibleineverylanguage.org to reach a broader community.

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Level Two Check - Community Check

The purpose of Level Two checking is to engage representative groups from the local language community to assess the quality of the translating and contribute to its improvement where needed.

The level two check focuses on pastors and the Christian community within the target language. Once the translation team has reached level one with its translation, the translation is ready to be shared outside the team for further review. Ideally, a leader on the translation team will work with local pastors and Christians to check the scripture's clarity and naturalness.

The translator or leader will read (if it is a written translation) a portion of the translation to the gathered listeners. Before reading, he should tell the people listening to stop him if they hear something that does not sound natural. Alternatively, if the people are literate, each one in the group can be asked to read a passage of the newly translated material. It is best, even if everyone in the group is literate, to have the portions read out loud to the whole group. Portions should not be too long (this is subjective to the abilities of the group and the type of passage). It is also very important for listeners to understand that they are now a part of the team helping to improve and affirm the quality of the scripture. They themselves are not being tested. Rather the questions are designed to help them provide feedback on the meaningfulness of the new translation.

The following tools have been created to assist teams in checking and are recommended for use during this level: Translation Questions, Translation Notes, and the Reviewer's Guide. Translation Questions and Translation Notes are embedded in tStudio, and all of these tools are available on bibleineverylanguage.org.

In addition, the translation team will have developed a rubric for testing and affirming the quality of their work. This rubric lists the characeristics that the translation needs to have in order to be of good quality. This rubric will help the team determine which tools and methods to apply to the level two check within their community. More information on this strategy is available at v-raft.com.

Key elements of this level of checking are:
1. Pastors AND other Christians in the community read (or listen to) the translated scriptures and contribute to their improvement 2. The above listed tools are employed for ensuring accuracy and completeness 3. The translation team is responsible to respond to feedback and implement changes in the translation where needed.

When this has been done, the translation is considered to be at level two.

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Level Three Check - Church Leadership Check

Level Three checking will be done by groups or organizations that are recognized by the churches in a language community. The leaders from these groups will verify that they affirm the quality the translation. This affirmation is not required for distribution of the translation, but rather serves to build the community's confidence in the quality of the translation.

Participants in this level of checking need to be different from the ones who participated in level two. Each level is an expansion of exposure, and this is most significant in affirming the quality as well as noting any needed improvements.

The purpose of this level is to affirm the alignment of the translation with the intent of the original texts and the sound doctrine of the Church historic and universal, through the review and affirmation by the leadership of the church that speaks the language. Level Three is thus achieved by the mutual agreement of the leadership of multiple church networks.

Level Three is completed when the translation has been thoroughly checked and validated by the leadership (or their delegates) of at least two church networks or denominations. When possible these should be leaders who have been trained/ordained through the church network, and they should use every aspect of their own knowledge and training to check the scriptures.

Here are some specific steps that can be followed for this check. However, the most important aspect of this check is to consider the authentic assessment rubric created by the translation team as the guide.

1. Does the translation conform to the Statement of Faith and Translation Guidelines?
2. Did the translation team show a good understanding of the source language as well as the target language and culture?
3. Does the language community affirm that the translation speaks in a clear and natural way in their language?
4. Is the style that the translators followed appropriate for the community?
5. Is the dialect that the translators used the best one to communicate to the wider language community? For example, have the translators used expressions, phrase connectors, and spellings that will be recognized by most people in the language community?
6. As you read the translation, think about cultural issues in the local community that might make some passages in the book difficult to translate. Has the translation team translated these passages in a way that makes the message of the source text clear, and avoids any misunderstanding that people might have because of the cultural issue?
7. In these difficult passages, do you feel that the translator has used language that communicates the same message that is in the source text?
8. In your judgment, does the translation communicate the same message as the source text?

If the answer is no to any of the above questions, please note the area in the text that is a concern and communicate with the translation team and explanation of your concerns.

If you answer "yes" to any of the questions in this second group, please explain in more detail so that the translation team can know what the specific problem is, what part of the text needs correction, and how you would like them to correct it.

1. Are there any doctrinal errors in the translation?
2. Did you find any areas of the translation that seem to contradict the national language translation or the important matters of faith found in your Christian community?
3. Did the translation team add extra information or ideas that were not part of the message in the source text? (Remember that some implied information may have been expressed explicity for the meaning to be clear. This is a desirable part of meaningful translation.)
4. Did the translation team leave out information or ideas that were part of the message in the source text?

If there were problems with the translation, make plans to meet with the translation team and resolve these problems. After you meet with them, the translation team may need to check their revised translation with the community leaders to make sure that it still communicates well, and then meet with you again.

Once the translation team has addressed suggestions to the satisfaction of the checking team, the scripture is considered to be checked to level three.

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Types of Checks

Self-Edit

How to do a Self-edit

• If you have followed the first for steps of the MAST process, then you made your first draft of a passage by consuming the source text, verbalizing what you consumed, breaking it down into workable chunks, and then writing it down while you were not looking at the source text. After you have translated a passage in this way, do a self-edit by looking again at the source text and comparing it to your translation. Make sure that your draft includes all the parts of the message of the source text and does not leave out anything. If some part of the message is missing, put it in your translation at the point where it fits best in your language. Also make sure you haven't included any extra information.
• If possible, compare your translation with other translations of the same Bible passage. If one of those makes you think of a better way to say something, then revise your translation in that way. If one of those helps you to understand something better than you did before, then change your translation so that it communicates the meaning better.
• If possible use the Translation Notes and Translation Questions as well as other tools available in translationstudio and Bibleineverylanguage.org to check your work.
• After these steps, read your translation out loud to yourself. Fix anything that does not sound like it is the way that someone from your community would say it. When you have completed these steps, you are ready to have a peer edit your work.

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Peer-Edit

How to do a Peer-Edit

• Once you have completed a draft and checked the draft yourself (using the source text for comparison and any other helpful tools to ensure accurate meaning), give the drafted portion to another member of the translation team to review. This person should read through it, comparing it to the source text and making notes of any missing or added material. The peer editor should not make changes to the translation, only make comments and suggestions for change. The peer editor should use any available tools for checking meaning, flow, and accuracy.
• Once the peer editor has compeleted a check of the passage, go over the suggested edits together. It is up to the translator to make changes.
• Read the revised translation out loud to this person and fix anything that does not sound like it is the way that someone from your community would say it.
• If you are in disagreement about a suggested change, the translator is responsible for the decision at this level, but these areas should be reviewed as a team so others can provide feedback on the best possible solution to any disagreements.

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Key Word Check

How to do a key word Check

• Key words are the words that impact the theme and message of the passage--they are abstract, spiritual, geographical and historical terms. Make a list of the key words in the story or Bible passage that you translate, along with the term that you choose for it in the target language. Here are some things to consider in choosing an appropriate term in your mother-tongue.
  • You may choose to borrow the term from the Gateway Language and adjust the spelling to fit your script and pronunciation.
  • You may chose to create a phrase or combine a few words into one.
  • You may choose a word with an added descriptor.
  • You may choose the common use word from the local Christian community.
  • You may choose a simple equivalent from every-day language use.
• Use the list of words and definitions in the translationWords tool available on bibleineverylanguage.org or translationStudio to help you to make a list of these words and to understand what they mean. Your own list may include additional words, but be careful not to include too many words. If the list is too detailed, checking becomes tedious. Additionally, checking every (or almost every word) can push the translated material away from natural flow in the target language. Remember, key words are ones of significance, packed with essential meaning and are often difficult to directly translate.
• It is best if you can create a chart so that you can list the source word or phrase in one column and the target word or phrase in another column. Further columns could list equivalent terms in other languages and the references where these terms occur in the Bible. It is ideal if everyone translating Bible books that use these terms has access to the chart so that you can all use the same words or phrases in your translation.
• Each time the translationWord occurs in the source text, make sure that the term you have chosen for the translation still makes sense in that context. If it does not, discuss the problem with others on the translation team and try to find a solution together. You may need to use a different term, or you may need to use more than one term for the different contexts, or you may need to find another way to communicate the translationWord that includes all of the meanings, such as using a longer phrase.
• When you have decided that you need to use different target language words or phrases to translate one source language translationWord in different contexts, then make a new line on the chart for each different way that you are translating the source translationWord. Repeat the source term in the source column, and put the new translation in the next column, under the first translation. If possible, share this chart with everyone on the translation team so that they can choose the right translation for the source translationWord in the context that they are translating.

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Verse-by-Verse Check

This step requires at least three people - the translator of the passage and two partners from the translation team--One partner who can translate the mother tongue to the source language and the second with appropriate competence in the source language.

The translator will read their translation one verse at a time, out loud, in the mother tongue. Without using any resources, one partner will listen to the mother tongue translation and verbally translate the mother tongue to the source language. A second partner will listen to the first partner’s verbal back-translation and compare it to the source text. The two partners will suggest edits where appropriate.

The wording will not be exactly the same between the source text and the back-translation, but it is important that:
(1) the meaning in the translation is the same as the meaning in the source text
(2) all of the events and important details found in the source text are present in the translation and
(3) no new or extra information has been added.

If the meaning is not the same or all of the events and important details are not present, the text should be edited. The team should consult translation Notes, translation Words, the source text, and other translations or other resourses to help them make corrections and improve the translation.

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Other Methods

Other Checking Methods

As well as asking questions, there are other checking methods that you may also use to ensure that the translation is easy to read and sounds natural to the listeners. Here are some other methods that you may like to try:

• Retell Method: You, the translator or tester, can read a few verses and ask someone else to retell what was said. This helps to check the clarity and naturalness of the translation and offers alternate ways of saying the same thing.

• Reading Method: Someone other than you, the translator or tester, should read a portion of the translation while you take notes where the pauses and mistakes occur. This will show how easy or how difficult it is to read and understand the translation. Look at the places in the translation where the reader paused or made mistakes and consider what part of the translation was difficult. You may need to revise the translation at those points so that it is easier to read and understand.

• Offer Alternate translations: In areas where you are not sure of the best way to express a word or phrase, ask other people for an alternative translation or offer a choice between two translations and see which alternative translation people think is the most clear.

• Reviewer Input: Let others whom you respect read your translation. Ask them to take notes and tell you where it might be improved. Look for better word choices, natural expressions, and even spelling adjustments.

• Discussion Groups: Ask people to read the translation aloud in a group of people and allow them and others to ask questions for clarification. Pay attention to the words they use, since alternate words and expressions come up when someone is trying to make sense of a difficult point, and these alternate words and expressions might be better than the ones in the translation. Pay attention to the places where people do not understand the translation, and work to make those places clearer.

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Detail Checks

Complete Versification

It is important that your target language translation include all of the verses that are there in the source language Bible. We do not want some verses to be missing by mistake. But remember that there can be good reasons why some Bibles have certain verses that other Bibles do not have.

Reasons for Missing Verses

1. Textual Variants - There are some verses that many Bible scholars do not believe were original to the Bible, but were added later. Therefore the translators of some Bibles chose to not include those verses, or included them only as footnotes. (For more information about this, see Textual Variants.) Your translation team will need to decide whether you will include these verses or not.
2. Different Numbering - Some Bibles use a different system of verse numbering than other Bibles. (For more information about this, see Chapter and Verse Numbers.) Your translation team will need to decide which system to use.
3. Verse Bridges - In some translations of the Bible, the contents of two or more verses are rearranged so that the order of information is more logical or easier to understand. When that happens, the verse numbers are combined, such as 4-5 or 4-6. The UDB does this sometimes, and on rare occasions, also the ULB. Because not all of the verse numbers appear or they do not appear where you expect them to be, it might look like some verses are missing. But the contents of those verses are there. (For more information about this, see Verse Bridges.) Your translation team will need to decide whether to use verse bridges or not.

Checking for Missing Verses

• Look at the source text and your translation, and check the verse numbers to see that every verse in each chapter of the source text is also your translation.
• If any verse is missing, find out if it is missing on purpose because of one of the three reasons above, or if it is missing by mistake.
• If a verse is missing by mistake, check to see if it is missing because of a formatting error or if you need to go back and translate that verse.
• Make the correction.

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Consistency Checks

In order for readers to be able to understand the translation easily, it is important that there be consistency in the following things: spelling, punctuation, and formatting.

The following are things to check

Spelling of Key Terms
Spelling of Names
Section Heading Type
Formatting
Punctuation

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