Finally, after many setbacks, Becca has started walking all by herself! Hurray! I wish I'd kept recording for a few more seconds though. Right after I stopped, Becca and Kathryn both fell backwards and Kathryn yelled, "Cut! Cut!"
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Friday, June 06, 2008
"A meek accompanist"?
Homophonic -- A texture with a principal melody and accompanying harmony, as opposed to polyphonic.
Polyphonic -- Having two or more voices or parts, each with an independent melody, but all harmonizing.
Most Christian marriage councillors will tell us that a homophonic relationship is best in marriage, with the husband a driving melody and the wife merely accompanying harmony. I've always found something vaguely unsettling about that. The Bible says that a husband and wife are to become one. Imagined as a single body, it would seem odd then to have half of the body moving ahead while the other lags behind to support it.
I am fortunate that my wife is able to be more than merely a support for me. Instead she is my equal partner. With her I can be myself, and trust her to be herself. Together we uphold each with our complementary strengths.
"Peter -- what did you mean when you said that anybody could have the harmony if they would leave us the counterpoint?"
"Why, that I like my music polyphonic. If you think I meant anything else, you know what I meant."
"Polyphonic music takes a lot of playing. You've got to be more than a fiddler. It needs a musician."
"In this case, two fiddlers -- both musicians. I admit that Bach isn't a matter of an autocratic virtuoso and a meek accompanist. But do you want to be either? Pray silence for the soloist. But let him be soon over, that we may hear the great striding fugue again."
-- Peter and Harriet, Gaudy Night
To my better half, you are my Harriet: my beloved whom I am glad to call my partner in all things. Happy anniversary, Kristin!
Polyphonic -- Having two or more voices or parts, each with an independent melody, but all harmonizing.
Most Christian marriage councillors will tell us that a homophonic relationship is best in marriage, with the husband a driving melody and the wife merely accompanying harmony. I've always found something vaguely unsettling about that. The Bible says that a husband and wife are to become one. Imagined as a single body, it would seem odd then to have half of the body moving ahead while the other lags behind to support it.
I am fortunate that my wife is able to be more than merely a support for me. Instead she is my equal partner. With her I can be myself, and trust her to be herself. Together we uphold each with our complementary strengths.
"Peter -- what did you mean when you said that anybody could have the harmony if they would leave us the counterpoint?"
"Why, that I like my music polyphonic. If you think I meant anything else, you know what I meant."
"Polyphonic music takes a lot of playing. You've got to be more than a fiddler. It needs a musician."
"In this case, two fiddlers -- both musicians. I admit that Bach isn't a matter of an autocratic virtuoso and a meek accompanist. But do you want to be either? Pray silence for the soloist. But let him be soon over, that we may hear the great striding fugue again."
-- Peter and Harriet, Gaudy Night
To my better half, you are my Harriet: my beloved whom I am glad to call my partner in all things. Happy anniversary, Kristin!
Monday, June 02, 2008
Wycliffe Bible Translators
Two weeks ago I went down to Wycliffe Bible Translators in West Chicago for their week-long Taste Of Translation And Linguistics course. I didn't stay the whole week, but I learned some very interesting things about Bible translation and linguistics. We had several courses on Phonetics, Language Learning (how to pick up a language through immersion), Translation, and Grammar.
I had no idea how much work went into translating the Bible for a single language group. In most cases, these language groups don't even have a written form of their language! In those cases, Wycliffe teams study the sounds and the phrases of the language and attempt to create a written language for them. This also involves demonstrating the usefulness of literacy, since it's a completely foreign concept to them. After creating a written language, Wycliffe teams study the grammar of the language and start the official "translation" process.
One of our classes involved pretending to translate Psalm 23, and we ran into some interesting problems. The instructor pointed out certain troublesome phrases, for example, "He makes me lie down in green pastures" shouldn't give the impression that the Lord is forcing the author to lie down. Also, the people group for whom we are translating might not live near any "green pastures", so we might need to use a different analogy. He cautioned us however that though it's OK to change "green pastures" into a cultural equivalent, it is not OK to change historical events. For example, even if the people group doesn't have fig trees, it's not acceptable to translate Mark 11:21 with "Rabbi, look! The mango tree you cursed has withered!"
Even though full-time missionary work isn't for me, I still enjoyed my time at Wycliffe. I met lots of great people and I learned a lot about translation. I've already used some of my new phonetics knowledge to help Rebecca pronounce some consonants. :-)
Before I left Wycliffe, I spoke with a few of their tech guys about using the computer to do some of the work remotely (mostly the grammar and translation). They admitted that they're not as far along as they'd like to be, but that they're working on it. The phonetics work and the language-learning still obviously has to be done "on-site". But the creation of the alphabet, diagramming the grammatical structure of the language, and the actual translation should be able to be done anywhere. I hope they continue to improve their infrastructure... maybe someday I'll be able to do some of the translation work from my computer here!
I had no idea how much work went into translating the Bible for a single language group. In most cases, these language groups don't even have a written form of their language! In those cases, Wycliffe teams study the sounds and the phrases of the language and attempt to create a written language for them. This also involves demonstrating the usefulness of literacy, since it's a completely foreign concept to them. After creating a written language, Wycliffe teams study the grammar of the language and start the official "translation" process.
One of our classes involved pretending to translate Psalm 23, and we ran into some interesting problems. The instructor pointed out certain troublesome phrases, for example, "He makes me lie down in green pastures" shouldn't give the impression that the Lord is forcing the author to lie down. Also, the people group for whom we are translating might not live near any "green pastures", so we might need to use a different analogy. He cautioned us however that though it's OK to change "green pastures" into a cultural equivalent, it is not OK to change historical events. For example, even if the people group doesn't have fig trees, it's not acceptable to translate Mark 11:21 with "Rabbi, look! The mango tree you cursed has withered!"
Even though full-time missionary work isn't for me, I still enjoyed my time at Wycliffe. I met lots of great people and I learned a lot about translation. I've already used some of my new phonetics knowledge to help Rebecca pronounce some consonants. :-)
Before I left Wycliffe, I spoke with a few of their tech guys about using the computer to do some of the work remotely (mostly the grammar and translation). They admitted that they're not as far along as they'd like to be, but that they're working on it. The phonetics work and the language-learning still obviously has to be done "on-site". But the creation of the alphabet, diagramming the grammatical structure of the language, and the actual translation should be able to be done anywhere. I hope they continue to improve their infrastructure... maybe someday I'll be able to do some of the translation work from my computer here!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)