A Quality Translation is…

💡Clear

💠 Accurate

🌸 Natural

⛪ Approved

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Preview: The seven steps below provide an overview for a team to produce a trustworthy translation of Open Bible Stories (OBS).

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Step 1: Individual Study 👤💡

🕦 40 minutes

OBS Story + Words + Notes

Step 2: Team Review 👥 ****💡 ****💠

🕑 60 minutes

OBS Story + Words + Notes + Discussion

Step 3: Prepare 🗣️ ****💠

🕓 20 minutes

Retell in the Target Language

Step 4: Draft 👤 ****🌸

🕤 20 minutes

Read + Draft

Step 5: Self-check 👤 ****💡 💠 🌸

🕥 30 minutes

Compare + Questions + Read aloud

Step 6: Partner Check 🗣️ 💡 💠 🌸

🕣 40 minutes

Compare + Read aloud + Discussion

Step 7: Team Review 👥 💡 💠 🌸

🕞 60 minutes

Compare + Words + Read aloud

Repeat Cycle Step-by-Step

Perform the cycle for each story until all 50 OBS are translated

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Keep in mind: Follow these suggestions to achieve a trustworthy translation.

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Ministry Integration

Many church leaders who join translation teams see translation as a separate, technical task that happens BEFORE ministry can begin. But every step below is already doing something the church does — studying God's Word, discussing it together, retelling it in the heart language, checking that it communicates clearly. The green callouts connect what the team is doing in ministry. Translation is not preparation for ministry — it is ministry happening right now.

When translators understand that their work is ALREADY serving the church, motivation increases, quality improves, and the translated Scripture begins reaching people long before the project is "finished."

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Step 1: Individual Study 💡

Objectives

The purpose of Individual Study is:

1a: To understand the general meaning and purpose of the story

1b: To prepare for a team discussion of the story before translation

👤 Individual activity 🕣 40 minutes

📔 Story

• Read the OBS story.
• Write down sentences from the text that may cause translation difficulties (use for later team discussion).
• Write down sentences from the text that may require special attention from translators (use for later team discussion).
• 10 minutes for this task

💬 Words

• Read the words from translationWords for the OBS story.
• Read the article for each word.
• Mark the specific articles that may be helpful in translating the OBS text (use for later team discussion).
• 20 minutes for this task

📝 Notes

• Read the notes from translationNotes for the OBS story.
• Read the note for each chunk.
• Mark the notes that may be helpful in translating the OBS text (use for later team discussion).
• 10 minutes for this task

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Suggested Ministry Integration:

As you study, write down one truth from this story that someone in your life needs to hear. Plan to share it at a prayer meeting, family devotion, or conversation this week. Who needs this story?

🗣️ Oral tip: Read the story out loud during your study — hearing it with your own voice helps you internalize it and prepares you to retell it.

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🎙️ Retell in the Target Language

• Study a chunk(s) of text along with all the resources and decide how to best convey the text in more natural language.
• Review the text again and think about how to retell the chunk(s) in the target language:
• Retell the meaning of the passage to a partner in the target language.