Bible translations into Ladakhi

There is approximately 50 Tibetan languages and over 200 varieties of Tibetan[1] and Ladakhi is one of those 50 languages. Ladakhi is located in India bordering both China and Pakistan and it’s neighbouring languages are Puric, Balti, Zanskari and Changthang (See map). All these languages are part of the Western Tibetan language grouping[1][2] and quite different from Central, Amdo and Kham Tibetan spoken varieties.

When translating any material into Tibetan a translator must decide which language level you want to translate into: Vernacular/Spoken, or Literary (mixture of spoken and non spoken words, with a complex spelling system) or Religious/an ancient dead language. There are advantages and disadvantages with each choice. Vernacular/Spoken will be easy to understand but it’s geographical reach is limited[3] and it is less prestigious than the religious. Literary language is more difficult to understand than spoken but has a further geographical reach. Religious language, it is more prestigious and it can reach further geographically but it requires people first to learn a dead language, in order to understand what is written in it.[3]

The first translators of the New Testament in Ladakhi had to face this very dilemma. H.A.Jaschke (a Moravian Missionary) decided to translate the New Testament into a religious language in order to reach a larger area and he start it in 1861 and it was completed in 1885 by Jaschke's successor F.A Redslob.[4] Revision of this translation started in 1898 by A.W. Heyde and missionaries who were familiar with Lhasa Tibetan (Central Tibetan dialect). This revision of the New Testament was completed in 1903[4] in a religious language with not many people understanding it. Dr A.H.Francke a Moravian missionary in Ladakh got a Tibetan Christian (Yoseph Gergan)[5] to help in translating the Old Testament with a number of Ladakhi Christians. This project took a number of decades to complete.[4] It was finally completed in 1935. In 1970 Eliya Tsetan Phuntshog Director of the Moravian Institute at Rajpur[6] finished revising the New Testament. He wanted to make the translation simpler and easier to understand for the Christians in Ladakh.[4] He partially succeeded in that the Christians could understand the Gospels but in regard to the Epistles it was still too hard for them. Today there is currently a project going on to translate the Bible into the spoken Ladakhi language[7] of the Zhung/Leh dialect.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 Trans-Himalayan Linguistics, De Gruyter, 2013, by Nicolas Tournadre "The Tibetic Languages and their classification"
  2. 1 2 "Ethnologue: Ladakhi language".
  3. 1 2 Heinrich August Jaeschke: Pioneer Tibetan Scholar, by John Bray, The Tibet Journal, Vol. 8, No. 1 (Spring 1983), pp50-55, Published by: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives
  4. 1 2 3 4 "A History of the Moravian Church's Tibetan Bible Translations by John Bray" (PDF).
  5. ↑ "Sacred Words and Earthly Powers: Christian Missionary Engagement with Tibet – John Bray".
  6. ↑ http://www.ladakhstudies.org/resources/Resources/Bray.MoravianHistory.pdf| A History of the Moravian Church in India by John Bray
  7. ↑ "Ladakhi Bible Translation News".
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