Encouragingly, there has been widespread coverage this week of the translation of the Bible into the Jamaican language of patois. This even included a feature today at the tail end of the BBC Today Programme.
The new translation is being drafted by the Bible Society as part of its drive to produce a version of the Bible in all of the world's 6000 languages.
The project has caused controversy because some people have the mistaken idea that patois is a slang form of English rather than a language in its own right.
But the Reverend Courtney Stewart, the General Secretary of the Bible Society of the West Indies (pictured), explained: "Patois defines us. It is instinctively Jamaican. If God speaks my language then he communicates with me - where I am. It is crucial."
Patois is spoken by five million round the world but until now has been considered low status. Almost all Jamaicans know it, but it's only recently that the middle and upper classes spoken it in public.
The Bible Society is working with the University of the West Indiesto develop a writing system that will effectively put patois down on paper for the first time - defining rules, punctuation, spelling and capitalisation. This means that the 12-year project is much bigger than just another Bible translation - it's actually the first official recognition of patois itself. The initiative is also costing a quarter of a million pounds.
PATOIS EXAMPLE TRANSLATION:
LUKE'S GOSPEL Chap 10: vs 30, 31
Patois: Jiizas ansa im se, 'Wan man a go dong fram Jeruusilem tu Jeriko an som tiif grab im. Dem tek we im kluoz, biit im an go we lef im haaf ded. Wan priis a go dong di siem ruod, si di man, an paas pan di ada said.'
Revised English Bible: Jesus replied, 'A man was on his way from Jerusalem down to Jericho when he was set upon by robbers, who stripped and beat him, and went off leaving him half dead. It so happened that a priest was going down by the same road, and when he saw him, he went past on the other side.'
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