Abaut di Pẹ́sin Wé Raít di Baíbul frọm Wọ́n Lángwej Gó Anọ́dá Lángwej/Abaut di Pẹ́sin Wé Chẹ́k di Baíbul
About the Bible Translator/About the Bible Translation Consultant
Apọsul Rọi C. Okónkwọ́ an Pastọ Dáfnẹ H. Okónkwọ́ bi sọ́m ọf di pípul wé Gọd dọ́n chuz to yúz dẹm dú Im wọk. Di wọk na to jẹnarét Im spiríchuál an matíriál blẹ́sin-dẹm, an shiá dẹm gív Im pípul wé dé ẹ́vríwiá fọ wọld.
Apostle Roy C. Okonkwo and Pastor Daphne H. Okonkwo are some of the people God has chosen to use to carry out His task. The task is for Him to generate His spiritual and material blessings and distribute the blessings through them to His people all over the world.
Fọ 1989, Gọd kọ́m to Apọsul Rọi fọ drim tẹ́l am sé:
In 1989, God came to Apostle Roy in a dream and said:
“A dọ́n mék yu spíríchuál an matíriál pawahaus wiá A go jẹnarét Mai spríchuál an matíriál blẹ́sin-dẹm an shiá dẹm gív Mai pípul wé dé ẹ́vríwia fọ wọld.”
“I have made you a spiritual and material powerhouse where I will generate My spiritual and material blessings and distribute them to My people all over the world.”
To raít Baíbul frọm wọ́n lángwej gó anọ́dá lángwej bi di wọk wé pás ọ́l di ọ́dá wọk wé Gọd gív Apọsul Rọi an Pastọ Dáfnẹ.
Translating the Bible is the most important task the Lord gave to Apostle Roy and Pastor Daphne.
Fọ ínsaíd ọ́l di spiríchuál an matíriál blẹ́sín wọk wé Gọd gív dẹm mék dẹm du, di wọ́n wé impọ́tánt pas na to raít Baíbul frọm wọ́n lángwej gó anọ́dá lángwej.
It is the most important task out of all the spiritual and material blessing duties the Lord gave them to do.
Fọ tẹ́n yie, Apọsul Rọi nọ́ grí dú wétín Gọd kọ́l am mék i du. Bọt wọ́n dè, Hólí Spírit gív am mẹ́sej trú wọ́n ọf Gọd Im sávant. Hólí Spírit tẹ́l Rọi fọ di mẹ́sej sé, íf nọ́ grí dú wétín Gọd kọ́l am mék i du, na fọ tírí dé taim i go dai.
For ten years, Apostle Roy refused to do what God called him to do. But one day, the Holy Spirit gave him a message through one of God’s servants. In the message, the Holy Spirit told Roy that if he refused to do what God called him to do, he would be dead in three days.
Sékọf sé i nọ́ wán dai, naím i stát atwọns to dú wétín Gọd tẹ́l am mék i du.
He obeyed God at once because he did not want to die.
I stát fọ Fẹ́búári 1999 to raít Baíbul fọ Naijíriá Píjin (NP).
He started translating the Bible into Nigerian Pidgin (NP) in February 1999.
Fọ Sẹptẹ́mba 1999, Apọsul Rọi fínísh to raít di hól Baíbul fọ NP. I raít am frọm Jẹ́nẹ́sis gó rích Rẹvẹléshọn. Na Hólí Spírit gív am pawa to dú am.
In September 1999, Apostle Roy finished translating the whole Bible (Genesis to Revelation) into NP. It was the Holy Spirit that gave him the power to do it.
Na Hólí Spírit shó Apọsul Rọi di Naijíriá Píjín ọtọ́gráfi wé Rọi yúz raít di Baíbul fọ NP. Hólí Spírit shó am haú to fọ́m di lángwej im álfábẹt tuu.
The Holy Spirit showed Apostle Roy the Nigerian Pidgin orthography which Roy used in translating the Bible into NP. The Holy Spirit also showed him how to form the language’s alphabet.
Áftá sọm taim, naím Apọsul Rọi an sọm ẹ́spat-dẹm kọ́n standadaíz di NP ọtọ́gráfi. Dẹm dú am fọ Yunívásítí ọf Ibadan, Naijíriá.
Sometime later, Apostle Roy and some experts standardized the NP orthography. They did it at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
Dis na di pípul wé jọín Apọsul Rọi dú di wọk fọ ték standadaíz di ọtọ́gráfi: grúp ọf ẹ́spat fọ ọtọ́gráfi-dẹm ọf Naijíriá lángwej-dẹm, pípul wé de lẹ́n an tích tins wé kọnsán dífrẹ́n dífrẹ́n lángwej-dẹm, ẹ́spat-dẹm fọ Naijíriá Píjin, an tícha-dẹm.
These are the people who worked with Apostle Roy to standardize the orthography: a team of experts in orthographies of Nigerian languages, linguists, experts in Nigerian Pidgin, and educationists.
As taim waká de gó frọ́nt frọnt, Apọsul Rọi kọ́n laík di wọk wé bi to raít Baíbul fọ Naijíriá Pijin. I laík am wẹ́l wẹ́l. An i ọ́lsó laík di kọ́l wé Gọd kọ́l am mék i sáv Gọd.
As time went by, Apostle Roy developed a deep love and passion for the translation work. He also loved the call that God called him to serve Him.
Apọsul Rọi ọndastán sé Gọd wán wẹ́l wẹl mék Naijíriá pípul gẹ́t Baíbul fọ Naijíriá Píjin. I ọndastan tuu sé, nóbọdi dọ́n dé síriọs to dú dís spẹ́shál impọ́tánt wọk.
Apostle Roy understood that the Lord desires that Nigerians have the Bible in Nigerian Pidgin. He also understood that no one had taken this especially important work seriously.
Apọ́sul Rọi dọ́n jám méní wahála fọ plẹ́ntí yiẹ, bọt i nó stọp di wọk. I kọntíniú to dú di wọk wé Gọd gív am.
Over the many years, Apostle Roy has faced many challenges, but he did not give up. He continued to do the work the Lord gave him to do.
Fọ 2011, Pastọ Dáfnẹ kọ́n stát to chẹ́k di wọk wé Apọsul Rọi de dú fọ ték raít Baíbul fọ Naijíriá Píjin (NP). An Apọsul Rọi kọntíniú to mék di NP Baíbul wé i de rait mék i bẹtá.
In 2011, Pastor Daphne started checking the work Apostle Roy is doing to translate the Bible into Nigerian Pidgin (NP). And Apostle Roy continued to polish the NP Bible.
Fọ 2018 dẹm bíld wọ́n wẹ́bsait wé im nem na nigerianpidgin.com. Na Naijíriá Píjin dẹm ték raít di hól wẹ́bsait. An na Naijíriá Píjín standadaíz ọtọ́gráfi dẹm ték raít ẹ́vrítin wé dé fọ di wẹ́bsait.
In 2018, they built a website named nigerianpidgin.com. The entire website is written in Nigerian Pidgin. They used Nigerian Pidgin standardized orthography to write everything on the website.
Fọ 2019, Yúníkód Kọnsọ́tiọm gív dẹm aprúval wé mék Naijíriá Píjin mék i bi wọ́n ọf wétín dẹm de kọ́l ‘Niú Lokal’. Di aprúval mék dẹm to pút Naijíriá Píjín Niú Lokál dáta fọ wétín Yúníkod de kọ́l ‘Kọ́mọ́n Lángwéj Dátá Ripọzítọrí (CLDR) Sọvẹí Tul’.
In 2019, they received approval for Nigerian Pidgin as a New Locale from The Unicode® Consortium. They entered the Nigerian Pidgin New Locale data in the Unicode® Common Language Data Repository (CLDR) Survey Tool.
Yúníkod de ád niú niú tins fo CLDR Sọvẹí Tul yiẹ́ bai yiẹ. An Apọstul Rọi an Pastọ Dáfnẹ de yúz Naijíriá Píjin ték raít di niú tins an pút dẹm fọ di sọvẹí tul. Dis de mék Naijíriá Píjin mék í dé bẹtá an dé niu.
Each year since, they update new data in the CLDR survey tool as released by Unicode. This keeps the Nigerian Pidgin current and up to date.
Fọ 2020, dẹm bikọ́m Liéízọ́n mémbas fọ Yúníkód Kọnsọ́tiọm. Na Yúníkód Kọnsọ́tiọm invaít dẹm mék dẹm bikọ́m mẹ́mbas.
In 2020, they became Liaison members of The Unicode Consortium. It was The Unicode Consortium that invited them to become members.
Fọ 2020, dẹm wọ́k wit Yúníkod Kọnsọ́tiọm to mék di fẹ́st Naijíriá Píjín spẹ́shál kọmpútá kiíbọd. Na kiíbọd wé pípul go fít yúz dú tins fọ láptọp, dẹ́sktọp, an sẹ́l fon.
In 2020, they worked with The Unicode Consortium to develop the very first Nigerian Pidgin dedicated keyboard. It is a keyboard people can use with laptops, desktops, and cell phones.
Fọ 2021 Apọsul Rọi an Pastọ Dafnẹ raít an pọ́blísh di fẹ́st tuú-lángwéj buk fọ Naijíriá Píjin (NP) an Ínglish. Dẹm yúz NP standadaíz ọtọ́gráfi ték raít am.
In 2021 Apostle Roy and Pastor Daphne co-authored and published the first ever bilingual book written in Nigerian Pidgin and English. They used the standardized orthography of NP to write it.
Di buk im nem na, “As Wi Ték Raít Baíbul fọ Naijíriá Píjin – As Wi an Gọd Ték Waka”. Yu fít gẹ́t di buk hia.
The book is titled, “Translating the Bible – Our Journey with God”. The book is available here.
Di buk na tírí buk wé dé ínsaíd wọ́n buk: Na Ínglish dẹm ték raít di buk im fẹ́st pat. Dẹn dẹm yúz di Ínglísh pat ték raít di buk fọ Naijíriá Píjin. Dis kọ́n bí di buk im sẹ́kọ́n pat. Di buk im tẹ́d pat bi di rait wé dẹm raít búk ọf Mátiu fọ NP.
It is three books in one: They used English to write the first part of the book. Then, they translated the English part of the book into Nigerian Pidgin. This created the second part of the book. The third part of the book is the translated book of Matthew into NP.
Apọsul Rọi an Pastọ Dafnẹ lẹ́n plẹ́ntí tins frọm Gọd wẹ́n dẹm de du di tuú-lángwéj wọk. Naím Gọd kọ́n ád anọ́dá wọk mék dẹm du. Na fọ 2022 Gọd ád di wọk.
Apostle Roy and Pastor Daphne learnt many things from God when they were doing the bilingual work. So, God added another task for them to do in 2022.
Di wọk na to yúz di NP Baíbul wé dẹm dọ́n ọlrẹ́dí rait, ték raít Ínglísh Baíbul. Dis mín sé, di Baíbul wé dẹm yuz fọ ték raít di Ínglísh Baíbul na di NP Baíbul. Dẹn dẹm go jọín di tuú Baíbul mék dẹm bikọ́m tuú-lángwéj Baíbul.
The task is to translate the NP Bible which they had already done, into English. That is, the source text for the English translation would be the NP Bible translation. Then they would combine the two Bibles to become a bilingual Bible.
Dẹm de raít di Baíbul fọ Ínglish wé dé ízii wẹ́l wẹl an nọ́ dé had fọ pẹ́sin to ríd an ọndastán am. Sódiáfọ, di tuú-lángwéj Baíbul dé impọ́tant fọ pípul wé de spík Ínglish as dẹm fẹ́st lángwej an fọ pípul wé de spík am as dẹm sẹ́kọ́n lángwej.
They are translating the Bible into very simple English that is easy to read and understand. So the bilingual Bible is useful for first and second language speakers of English.
Pastọ Dáfnẹ bi di pẹ́sin wé de raít di Ínglísh Baíbul an Apọsul Rọi bi di wọn wé de hẹ́lẹ́p chẹ́k wétín i rait.
Pastor Daphne is the translator for the English Bible and Apostle Roy is the translation consultant.