Did He Really Say What I Said? The Challenge of Preaching Through an Interpreter
Lynn Fowler heads Glory to the King Ministries International, and is "Mum Lynn" to a network of ministers in 20 nations. She resides in Churchill, Victoria in Australia.
I had talked casually with this young brother, and he seemed reasonably comfortable speaking in English, so I assumed it would be OK. I quickly learned that, although he was able to hold a limited conversation in English, he had no comprehension when I started to talk about deeper spiritual concepts. Much of the sermon was spent with him looking at me quizzically and me trying desperately to find the simplest words possible to express what I was trying to say. Needless to say, that was not one that got recorded for posterity!
If at all possible (sometimes it simply isn’t) spend some time with your interpreter before the meeting, talking about the kind of things you are going to be preaching. If you have notes, go over them. If there is a problem, you may not be able to change interpreters, but at least you will be forewarned to keep your language as plain and simple as you can.
Pray with your interpreter.One of the things I have noticed over the years is that when I have a good interpreter, we flow in the same anointing. Take time to pray with your interpreter before the meeting. Specifically ask the Lord to take of the anointing that He has placed on you and place it on your interpreter. Ask that the Spirit of God will cause your interpreter not only to understand your words correctly, but to grasp the heartbeat of what you are saying, and to convey it in the same spirit and power.
Keep it relevant.Particularly if you are ministering in an undeveloped or developing country, the people to whom you are speaking live in a vastly different world from the one you know. Your illustrations must relate to the people to whom you are ministering.
This goes beyond simply not using illustrations that relate to technology or western consumerism. One of my early mission trips included Zambia. At that time I had a pet saying that “some Christians act as if they find Jesus about as exciting as a sack of dead mice.” I used it, without thinking, in one of my sermons. It was only later that I realized the people of that area ate mice, and a sack full of them would probably have been a very exciting prospect! I can only assume I had some very confused listeners!
Matters of styleWhen it comes to style, there are a few things western preachers really like to do but which simply do not work in a message that has to be interpreted.
Firstly, forget about alliteration. Some preachers like to help people remember our messages by giving them major points all starting with the same letter. In English, it generally works well – even though some of the contortions used to achieve it at times can be rather grating. In other languages, it doesn’t work. Period. Your carefully selected words, even if they can each be translated by a single word, will all begin with different letters.