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This book will be of historical value to the Evenki people!
A test-group of 15 persons had been assembled to translate the text into Russian and to answer a set of questions. Soon it became evident that the Evenki people in the Tura area had no difficulty understanding the translation of the Evenki Children’s Bible. A few idioms were slightly different but it did not prevent the message of the text from being understood. To clarify the meaning when idioms can’t be easily translated, there will be a glossary, or word list with definitions, in the back of the book. Another discovery during the trip was the apparent need for an audio-recording of the book. Many Evenki people are not in the habit of reading their own language – poor Nadia constantly had to read the text aloud for her test-group! A presentation of all the books in Evenki, published by IBT, was organized before Nadia and Stefano returned home. (The Gospel of Luke, Jesus Friend of Children and the Stories About God) Many of the participants were Evenki teachers. They were especially interested in our translated books since there is so little Evenki literature available, and they would like to use the Biblical texts for the reading lessons in the schools. The media was of course there too, both TV and newspapers. One of the newspaper articles concluded its column with these words: “There is no doubt that this book will be of historical value to the Evenki people.” The Children’s Bible, which is a shortened version of the whole Bible, is important because the Evenki people will likely never get the entire Bible in their own language.
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Stefano and Nadia, two of our co-workers, went to the Tura area in Evenkia this past January to test the translation of the Evenki Children’s Bible. There are about 30,000 Evenkis in the autonomous area of Evenkia, situated in central Siberia, west of Yakutsk and south of the Taimur peninsula. It is an area of enormous proportions. (About 480, 000 square miles) The Tura area was chosen to determine if these people, who speak another dialect than the one used in the translation, understood the text.