Ensuring the Message Really 'Clicks'
By Noel Bachelor

Ensuring the Message Really 'Clicks'
By Noel Bachelor

Several years ago, a number of Oral Bible Translation projects were begun in languages spoken by the San peoples (Bushmen) of the Kalahari, in Botswana and Namibia. These languages are widely recognised as having many ‘click’ sounds.  The significant number of contrasting click consonants was one factor which made developing a writing system a challenge for some of these languages.  As a result, Bible translation projects had struggled to start.  Oral Bible Translation could enable that step to be bypassed and give the San people the Bible in audio form.  So with some training in translation, recording, and basic handheld audio recorders, the translation process began.

Getting down to work. Gerrie (Tsumkwe Ju/'hoansi) at the mic, Josef behind him, and Hendrick van Zyl (Namibia language team recordist and assistant, since deceased) looking on.
Au travail! Gerrie (Tsumkwe Ju/'hoansi) est au microphone, Josef se tient derrière lui et Hendrick van Zyl (preneur de son et assistant de l'équipe linguistique de Namibie, décédé depuis) observe.But the click sounds that made developing an orthography difficult also presented challenges in recording them clearly.  The clicks often have peaks much higher than the voiced sounds which also need to be heard.

If the recording level was set to get a good recording of voiced sounds, the clicks would often be clipped and distorted. People were then not sure which consonant was meant and often misunderstood the recorded message.  On the other hand, if they set it to automatic recording level control, the frequent clicks would cause the recorder to reduce the level so much that the recording was seen as too quiet and noisy. 

It seems there were few audio standards really set for this project, with recordings being done in a variety of (low quality) formats, on various devices.  The generally uncontrolled recordings at 16 bits (or MP3) from handheld recorders with built in mics resulted in poor quality sound.  Editing together of the bits and pieces recorded or revised at different times also gave very patchy results.

Dalene Joubert (GRN) helping Dahm Xixae (Shakawe Ju/'hoansi) to connect his equipment.

Dalene Joubert (GRN) aide Dahm Xixae (Shakawe Ju/'hoansi) à connecter son équipement.

Global Recordings Network’s southern Africa coordinator, Dalene Joubert, saw the difficulties some of these teams were having. She suggested to the San Partnership that we could recommend equipment and standards to alleviate these difficulties and produce much more usable recordings.

In March 2018, a workshop was held near Wellington, South Africa, to re-equip and train key members of seven or eight translation teams.  They were introduced to better equipment, recording standards, and a few techniques similar to those used for many years by GRN recordists.

The workshop ran for two weeks.  The first day or two covered audio basics, recording formats, and their effect on final quality.  Then trainees learned how to use the various recording equipment: recorders, microphones, headphones, and the relevant features and settings, etc.

That gave them the ability to record consistently, with sufficient quality to process the sound in such a way that tamed the clicks without suffering noise and distortion.  Understanding, monitoring, and controlling the sound level and quality meant that recordings could be redone or revised later, with corrections often cut in without noticeable changes in the sound character.  It was great to see the delight on their faces when they realised their languages really could be recorded clearly.

Several workshop participants getting into their editing.

Plusieurs participants de l'atelier se lancent dans leur montage.

The week following the workshop, one keen participant taught other members of his team, and their committee decided to build a ‘studio’, where they could work on the translation recording, also helping them to produce more consistent results.  Others have now also done the same.

After initial community and consultant checks, the oral translation teams send their edited recordings of each story or section to GRN personnel for the necessary processing and mastering work, which assures more consistent results and gives them feedback on any suggested changes to methods or techniques, etc.The second week was spent mainly on the editing software (Audacity) and techniques for editing, checking, and revising the recordings.  The workshop concluded with them each recording and editing a short project.

Southern Africa Oral Translation Workshop participants and staff (March 2018).

Participants et personnel de l'atelier de traduction orale en Afrique australe (mars 2018).

GRN’s Global Studio is now receiving a steady stream of oral scripture recordings in a growing number of languages from southern Africa.  This makes their recordings quickly and widely available via GRN’s websites and the 5fish smartphone apps, to enable further community testing and direct use.  For example: https://globalrecordings.net/en/program/66255.

The growing interest in Oral Bible Translation has led to a follow up workshop for a few other groups in Namibia, and further discussion about training similar translation teams in other areas. 

A variety of different aspects and disciplines are required to produce a good translation, as well as produce a good recording of it.  Appropriate skills in these various areas are required if top results are to be achieved.  With all else equal, if high quality audio tools and 24-bit audio formats are used by personnel trained to correctly use them, more of these projects will be able to produce materials to clearly communicate the message, and the recordings may remain viable for many years to come.

Chime In!

What recording standards have you found useful for oral Bible translations in your context? Let us know at the IMS Forum.

Faites-nous part de vos commentaires !

Quelles normes d'enregistrement avez-vous trouvées utiles pour les traductions orales de la Bible dans votre contexte ? Ecrivez-nous au Forum IMS.

Noel Bachelor has been a recordist with GRN for over 42 years, carrying a Nagra in the bush for 10 years. In the late 1980s, with SIL Darwin personnel and others, he developed a series of songwriters workshops and other initiatives with multitrack recording and production. For about 15 years he has been GRN's senior recording engineer and Global Studio Coordinator, overseeing the standards and work of all their recordists and studio processes. Reach him at noelbachelor@globalrecordings.net. This article was translated from English to French with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version) and edited for accuracy by Simone Wilson.