Translating Christ

[DESCRIPTION] Told through private conversations and personal correspondence between Herman Aschmann and the author, with additional insight from Aschmann’s family and friends, Translating Christ pieces together the life of Herman Aschmann, Wycliffe Bible translator, and his wife as they lived and worked among the Totonac people of Mexico.

Aschmann’s abundance of physical and intellectual energy, linked with a passionate curiosity and empathetic concern for the language and culture of the Totonac people, enabled him to translate three distinct Totonac New Testaments. His became the foundation for the remarkable growth of the Totonac church in Mexico. [/DESCRIPTION][SUBTITLE]The Memoirs of Herman Peter Aschmann, Wycliffe Bible Translator [/SUBTITLE] [CREDIT] by: Hugh Steven (Author) [/CREDIT] [PAGES] 230 [/PAGES] [BINDING] Paperback [/BINDING] [PUBLISHER] William Carey Library [/PUBLISHER] [PUBLISHYEAR] 2011 [/PUBLISHYEAR] [ENDORSEMENT1]

There is a tendency to accept academic training as a criterion of expertness in translating, since people think of translators as language professionals and professionalism is usually judged in terms of years of study. On the other hand, one of the most creative translators I have ever known was Herman Aschmann, a person of limited academic training, but one who became entranced by the cultural content and literary potential of Totonac, an Indian language of Mexico. Instead of submitting one possible rendering of a biblical expression, he usually had a half dozen different ways of representing the meaning of the Greek text. Not only did he produce three exceptional New Testaments in Totonac, but he inspired local people to imitate his skill in discovering more and more meaningful ways of communicating a message into an entirely different language-culture.

Dr. Eugene Nidapremier linguist, Bible Translation theoretician, and Herman’s former linguistics teacher [/ENDORSEMENT1] [ENDORSEMENT2]

Herman Aschmann was a kindly man without pretense. His work was always more of the heart than of the head. He was plainspoken, a bit nervous, tolerant of others and always the best kind of company.

Felipe RamosTotonac pastor and radio voice of the Totonac Cultural Hour [/ENDORSEMENT2] [TOC]

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Please Tell Me What Happened

2. Misdeeds

3. Finding an Anchor

4. What Would God Think of That?

5. Discovering a New World

6. Jailhouse Rock

7. A Song for the Dead

8. Making Friends

9. Trying to Make Life Easier Doesn’t Always Work

10. Accidents Will Happen

11. New Helpers

12. The Book That Smacked of the Truth

13. Fishing for Words

14. Born with Ink in His Veins

15. Give Me Your Soul

16. Please Never Come to Visit Me Again

17. Thinking More of God’s Past Blessings

18. A New Challenge

19. The Best Is Yet to Be

Afterword

Postscript

Appendix

Index

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