A Change of Plan

December 20, 2024

Our Philippines team plans to record a minority language in Davao City, in the far south of the country, far from Manila. Mary Ann traveled to Davao to begin translating materials for a minority language group back in June. However, they encountered difficulties. It was challenging for the community to translate directly from English or Tagalog. To do so would require additional time to re-translate everything into their trade language. To streamline the process, they decided to first translate the materials into the trade language, Cebuano.

Mary Ann reached out to volunteers who were knowledgeable and skilled in Cebuano translation, and they agreed to complete the translation before the recording team’s arrival in Davao in September.

David Sinden, an Aussie recordist, travelled to the Philippines from Australia to join them on this adventure. While he went to help them, it was hoped he would learn about the translation process and working with language helpers. It was also planned that he would provide training to team members on some technical aspects of recording.

David arrived in Manila on schedule where he was met by Mary Ann. Being peak hour, they ate dinner in the airport as the traffic outside was a parking lot. This was David’s first clue that life was to be very different for a while! The first couple of days David spent working on his African Herero recording while the team prepared for the trip. The team comprised of Jurine (Leader), Mary Ann (Recordist) and Hannah (Trainee Recordist).

Upon arrival in Davao City the team set about proofreading the translated scripts and assessing the recording space. Proofreading also turned out to be more time-consuming than expected, so several days was dedicated to this task. Their accommodation was a better recording space than the planned church. During the day their mattresses turned into a recording studio and at night they slept on them.

While you are working, you have to eat! David is a bit of a foodie, and the team took great joy in introducing David to the local delicacies. Amazingly, on reporting back in Australia afterwards, he knew what all the dishes were called – and he had photographs of them too!

The original plan was to record the entire series of “Look, Listen, and Live” (LLL) and “Good News” (GN). Due to time constraints, they were only able to record the “Good News” and “Look, Listen, and Live” Books 1, 2, 3, and 5. Nonetheless, these recordings will make future translations into other local languages around Davao much easier. It was a great opportunity for Hannah to record with David and hone her skills.

While in Davao City they also recorded music in Cebuano and Manobo: Agusanon. The team wanted to learn the art of recording music, and it is one of David’s strengths. This proved to be a valuable training exercise for Mary Ann and Hannah and should also provide some well recorded Christian music for the local church.

Upon returning to Manila, David and Hannah began the work of editing. They quickly discovered that David uses very different editing methods. It was a good opportunity for both Mary Ann and Hannah to learn more about editing and some advanced techniques. As this Every Language goes out, David and Hannah are working on their editing and program creation. Please pray for them as they do this.

We are thankful for this project. It has been a learning experience for David, Hannah and Mary Ann. Please pray that the finished recordings will be well received by the local community. Hannah plans on returning to Davao City in January to work with the translation team and begin translating the minority language using the already translated Cebuano scripts. Once the translation is complete, the team will return to Davao for the recording. Please pray for the successful completion of this project and that it would result in recordings that will be well used for God’s glory.