Umanakaina New Testament (GDNPNG)

Overview

The Umanakaina New Testament (Iya Yonai) was published in 1999 by the Bible Society of Papua New Guinea as the first Scripture translation in the Umanakaina language. The translation was carried out by Wycliffe Bible Translators, with Norwegian missionaries Sigmund and Ingjerd Evensen spending 17 years living among the Umanakaina people in an isolated village in Goodenough Bay (Bonenepi village), developing a written form of the language and translating the New Testament. ^[1] Local translators Aidani and Taniro, trained as village language teachers, became accomplished Bible translators, and eventually 24 additional local translators joined the effort. ^[1] One of the most notable challenges of the translation was rendering the concept of “forgiveness,” which had no direct equivalent in Umanakaina culture. Sigmund Evensen discovered that combining two existing words — denimena (an unconditional, irrevocable gift) and notagogapani (to erase from one’s mind) — created the expression denimena notagogapani, meaning to forgive completely. ^[1]

References

• [1] Searching for Forgiveness - Wycliffe Bible Translators UK. Account of the Umanakaina translation, including the Evensen family’s work and the cultural challenge of translating “forgiveness.”

Language and People

Umanakaina (ISO 639-3: gdn) is spoken by approximately 2,810 people in Papua New Guinea, Map 17. [Glottolog: uman1240]

Publishing and Organizations

Published by BS of Papua New Guinea, Port Moresby. Translation type: First.

References

• BibleSearch - Online text, American Bible Society
• Audio Bible - Audio Bible, Faith Comes By Hearing
• NT - Online text, Faith Comes By Hearing
• Iya Yonai - Online text, Wycliffe Bible Translators, Inc.
• Bible For Developers - DBL archive entry, Digital Bible Library
• find.bible entry - find.bible. Bible catalogue entry for GDNPNG.
• Global Bible Catalogue - Global Bible Catalogue entry.
• ebible.org entry - ebible.org.