Update from Wycliffe Bible Translators

St Mungos partners with Wycliffe Bible Translators. Here is an update from them: 

“One thing I’ve learnt during this pandemic is how to wash my hands.” How many of us have either heard or made this statement recently? We can be grateful for the clear guidelines we’ve been given on how to wash our hands properly in order to help prevent the spread of Covid-19. 

"Wash your hands" isn't enough to combat this pandemic, but it already makes a difference. Yet a third of the world’s population didn’t even have that guideline in their own language until recently. 

While much of the world’s digital media is available in 20 or so languages, and translation platforms like Google Translate support around 100 languages, there are still billions of people around the world who are marginalized due to a lack of timely health information. So language experts from SIL International and Wycliffe Bible Translators have used hundreds of Bible translations along with artificial intelligence (AI) to help create key health warnings such as ‘Wash your hands’ in over 500 languages. We hope this will help save lives! https://www.ethnologue.com/guides/health

‘I’ve been working with experts in AI and two System Architects who have recently joined SIL International; one from Ericsson Motorola and the other from Amazon.com. We’re investigating ways in which AI can be used to accelerate the work of Bible Translation.’ 

‘I, Hannah*, will soon join a Member Care team, working remotely to support teams in Asia. Once it’s safe to, I will travel to Asia several times a year to meet and debrief colleagues. We’ve both received some orientation to this new role as we will at times travel together to offer a listening ear to colleagues working in a sensitive context. I am now learning a new language and completing further training for this task, while raising support to cover travel and language learning costs related to this new role. * alias used to protect the team they will be supporting. 

A big thank you to St Mungo’s for your financial support and your prayers! If you would like to hear more about our work, please contact Derek Thomson who can pass your contact details on to us.