The Ap Ma Language
by Jill Riepe
I first heard about the Ap Ma language and their need for a translation of God’s Word in 2006 when I came to Papua New Guinea as an internship leader. Martha Wade proposed that I consider working with the Ap Ma language since they were one of the first language groups that Pioneer Bible Translators started working with and they were still struggling to complete their New Testament translation even without the help of an expatriate advisor. I committed to pray about it as I returned to the States to complete my doctorate.
The Ap Ma people are located in the Angoram District of the East Sepik Province in Papua New Guinea. Of the 15 villages that speak Ap Ma, each one claims to have a unique dialect; although, it’s more likely that there is really only 4 dialects. The first translators chose to translate in the Samban dialect since it was the most central and prestigious. Samban, the village, is the highest area in the language group and the name even means ‘ground piled up.’ Several of the villages do not have land and their houses are built over water.
Throughout my final years of studies in the States, my heart and mind kept returning to the Ap Ma people and their desire to really understand God’s Word. I felt that God was calling me to help them hear His Word in their language. In 2009, I was finally able to return to Papua New Guinea to serve as a full time missionary. I was invited to be involved in an Old Testament panorama translation course, because of my knowledge of Biblical Hebrew. Through this course, new Ap Ma translators are being trained and portions of the Old Testament are being translated into Ap Ma.
As part of the translation process, we read through the translated material with the village elders to make sure that it sounds right. It’s far too easy to just translate for the meaning and forget naturalness, but if that happens even though it’s an extremely accurate translation, no one will understand it so we meet with the elders to check the naturalness and clarity of the translation. Most Sunday afternoons, we gather in a school classroom and read through the Old Testament portions. Mukok, the village chief, always attends these gatherings. He was one of the advocates to get Pioneer Bible Translators to come to translate the Bible into Ap Ma. I remember the look in his eyes and the smile on his face as he first heard the story of Abraham in Ap Ma.
Also in 2009, John and Bonita Pryor returned to Papua New Guinea to celebrate the publication of the book of Acts in the Ap Ma language. John and Bonita were the first PBT missionaries to work with the Ap Ma people. Through this visit, John committed to return each summer to do exegetical checking with Maso Leko, the New Testament translator. Maso is a dedicated and talented translator who has continued his work even though John and Bonita had to return to the States to care for their parents.
The Ap Ma translation has really taken off. Each summer, John and Maso work on exegetically checking books in the New Testament and then Maso and I work on finishing the village and consultant checking so these books can be published and distributed to the Ap Ma people. As my Ap Ma language skills improve, I will begin helping with the New Testament exegetical work as well. The Old Testament translators are developing good translation skills and have translated nearly all of the Old Testament narrative material in the panorama. Once they have finished the Old Testament work, they will begin helping Maso to complete the New Testament Gospels. The Ap Ma language currently has Luke, Acts, Galatians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, and James published and available to the Ap Ma people. The church has started reading these portions of the vernacular Scripture on Sunday as part of worship.
The Ap Ma people are just one of many people groups here in Papua New Guinea that desperately wants to hear God’s Word in their heart language. Is God calling you to help them to hear?
How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? Romans 10:14 (NIV)