A Bunch of Checkmarks

I have now left Musoma. But I wanted to take a chance to show you a picture that summarizes my work over the past 5+ years.

Impressive right?

Ok, maybe not. But what does it mean?

Other than being a bunch of boxes with checkmarks, it means the following for each Jita, Kwaya, and Zinza:

- Approved orthography status (as of my last day in the office!!!)

- Over 250 pages of peer-reviewed linguistic documentation.

- Basic grammars, both in English and in Swahili.

- Extensive documentation of the spelling rules, both in English and in Swahili.

Praise God for all of the work that he enabled me to accomplish!

Zinza Language Committee

HUGE step forward for the Zinza writing system (orthography)!!!

Last week I met with the Zinza language committee, presented the Zinza orthography to them, debated a couple of choices that have been made, and in the end, received their approval for the orthography that we've developed over the past 25 years!

Why is this such a huge step?

Because it is the final piece (of many) needed to submit the application for "Approved Orthography Status". This status gives us a lot more freedom in printing Zinza materials, and an orthography has to have this status for at least two years before the New Testament can be printed. This status also means that this way of writing Zinza is becoming accepted by the community and is being used more.

Praise the Lord for preparing the way to reach this important step.

Pray that the application will be accepted and that we are granted "Approved Orthography Status".

Here is a picture of the language committee that gave us their approval:

Zinza Writers' Workshop Part 1

Last week I went out to Kome Island to participate in a workshop teaching about 15 Zinza speakers to write their language. This group had already been taught to read Zinza, so they had some experience with their writing system. Now it was their turn to write some stories, rather than just read them.

One of the exercises that they did was to draw a picture and label the various items in the picture (using Zinza, of course). The next day they wrote stories, in groups, about the pictures.

Even though I couldn't completely understand the stories when they were read out loud, it was truly a delight to hear the laughter that was elicited by them. I did clue in at the end of one of the stories when my Zinza name (Nyakahoza) was incorporated into the story. I was honored to make a guest appearance in their story!

Here are the pictures that they drew which inspired the stories:

Fishing

Animal Husbandry

Home Life and Family

Hunting

Farming

Is everything spelled exactly correctly? No. BUT I saw tone markings, vowel length and other little uses of their writing system that were very encouraging to me that they will use it and grow in their ability to write their language accurately!

As you can see though, they really enjoyed the exercise:

June 2012 Newsletter

I apologize for the poor quality of some of the pictures. I actually don't have any pictures from the wedding myself, credit for photos goes out to my friends and family on Facebook who posted them.

Thanks!

December 2011 Found in Translation

October 2011 Newsletter