‘Teamwork makes the dream work’ is one of the most used quotes today. In addition to using motivational quotes, management tries different ways to get their employees to work together as a team and achieve their targets. NAC’s all India translators meeting had the same goal in mind – encourage, inspire, and motivate the old and new members to work seamlessly together. And to do this, a five-day translators’ meet was held in Shadnagar, Hyderabad.
Twenty-three members were invited for the meeting at Shadnagar, Hyderabad, held from 5-9 April but only fourteen could attend. The members from Odia were unable to attend due to prior commitments. In attendance were Rev. Morris Lal and Rev. Peter Massey from the Hindi team, Sister Sarojini Devaraj, Rev. Immanuel Jonathan and Rev. James Sanadi from the Kannada team, Rev. Nilratna Gorde and Rev. Nitin Raje from the Marathi team, Rev. Samuel, Rev. Thangavelu, Sister Kasturi and Sister Sanchala from the Tamil team, and Rev. Murthy Gummadi and Rev. Suresh Kumar from the Telugu team.
One Meeting, Many Tongues
Twice a year the translators meet – in the beginning of the year all the language teams meet together, and during the latter part of the year, every language group meets individually.
The agenda for the April meeting was to cover all aspects of translation and typesetting – instructions for typesetting, problems that arise while translating and solutions. One of the core points discussed was the uniformity of vocabulary across all languages. This year the team paid special attention to the vocabulary for the publication “Catechism of the New Apostolic Church in Question and Answers”. After five days of brainstorming the team finalized 104 words in Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu. When the translators saw their efforts on the white board, they each felt such a deep sense of joy.
The fourteen members from the translation team were a mix of experienced and new members. Those with technology and software skills helped others who were not technologically savvy, and the more experienced and older members helped the new members learn the ropes.
A Positive Experience
One member who recently joined the translation team shared that he was able to grasp and understand the challenges of translating, typesetting and proofreading. The road map and set of instructions that were shared would be a useful guide as they moved forward. He was excited to be part of a team that is so diligent and devoted to their work.
The meeting was declared a success and the translation team will meet again later this year to work on the final version of the Divine Service Guide 2018. Each member of the team was reminded that from time to time issues and problems would arise, but if they approached any situation with harmony and oneness, it would eventually get solved.