God’s word for the Wolof

Senegalese Mamadou Diop had two Masters degrees and listened to BBC regularly as a way to perfect his English. During a devotional programme on air, a Christian minister described Jesus Christ as the saviour. Mamadou, a Muslim, knew Jesus to be a prophet, but saviour…? He was intrigued and decided to find out more.

In Dakar, he approached a building with a cross on it and asked the lady receptionist if they had any books on Jesus that he could read. She invited Mamadou to church where he met Gerhard, a German. Gerhard began a Bible study with Mamadou and Mamadou became a Christian. Afterwards, Gerhard introduced Mamadou to his colleague, Eric Church, pioneer of the Wolof Bible translation project.

Following these connections, Mamadou Diop would spend over 20 years translating the Bible into Wolof until he passed away in August 2021, a few days after putting in his final revisions to the Gospel of Mark.

Wolof Bible Translation Project

Eric Church arrived in Senegal from the UK in 1962 and studied Wolof. He began the translation project in 1963 with a local Muslim farmer, Magatte Fall, who was descended from the line of Wolof kings. Since Magatte didn’t know any of the biblical languages, Eric first made base translations into French and from there, they translated into Wolof. Magatte’s son, Mbengue, eventually took over from his father. He was sent to study Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic, and learned to translate directly from the original texts into Wolof.

Mbengue, brilliant and gifted with words, contributed a rich Wolof vocabulary to the translation. However, due to his prior Islamic belief that the Koran should not be translated, he maintained many Hebrew and Greek forms, thereby violating Wolof grammar in his attempt to make the translation more literal. While Mbengue was on the project, Marilyn Escher, another foreign missionary with WorldVenture (then known as Conservative Baptist Mission Society) arrived in Senegal in 1972 to help Eric with the project. After Mbengue died, Eric recommended Mamadou to continue work with Marilyn.

A translator’s preparation

It seems God was preparing Mamadou to become a Bible translator before he became a Christian. While he was a student at the university, he studied Wolof to fulfil a language requirement and took four courses in linguistics. He was teaching high school math when he joined the project and he combined this with his work as a translator. Along the line, he realized he couldn’t continue with both teaching and translation work. He tore up the papers that would have allowed him to continue in teaching and decided to become a full-time translator.

In 2005, he successfully completed an intensive first year Biblical Hebrew course at the European Training Programme in Horsleys Green, England. In 2006, an SIL consultant, Dr. Fritz Goerling invited the translation team to Mali to attend his workshop on translating the Psalms and other Hebrew poetry. From February to June 2008, Mamadou studied intermediate Hebrew at The Home for Bible Translators in Jerusalem. He taught himself Greek, learned Arabic from a neighbour, and while in Jerusalem, learned modern Hebrew too. He was a genius with languages.

Mamadou’s contribution

Mamadou built on Mbengue’s work by making the translation more Wolof in its form and grammar. He brought his gifts to bear on the beauty of the Wolof language to make the translation more poetic. He felt that the strong emotions in the prophetic books could best be expressed in poetry. Mamadou’s daughter once brought a television actor to Mamadou’s office and Mamadou read for him a portion of his translation from the book of Job. The actor was so impressed that he said it ought to be made into a play and aired on national TV. Another time, Mamadou read some Psalms to the national poet laureate, who was enamoured by the language.

Mamadou’s son, S.S. Diop, says that his father would go to his home office every day and sit by his computer from morning to night. He would analyze each verse, read commentaries and make handwritten notes. “We, his children, were afraid to interrupt him because he was so focused. He would come to dinner exhausted, but he would be at it again the next day. Whenever I heard my father defend his opinion on a verse, I felt so proud. Occasionally, he would call our mother and read a text to her. Then like a true Wolof, he would admire his own work and say, ‘Oh my God, I can really translate!’ He saw that God was working in him to bring the translation to life.”

After a book was finished, a consultant would meet with the translation team and native speakers to check it by comparing written and oral back translations in French and Wolof to the original texts. According to Marilyn, they use SIL consultants who check every verse, word, punctuation, footnote and section header. It takes 10 days or longer to check a book. Mamadou was so meticulous with his translation that usually, very few problems needed to be resolved. After a book was checked, it would first go up on the web before portions are printed.

Technology for translation

The translation team received their first computer in 1983. The Wolof Bible uses both Roman script and Wolofal or Ajami Wolof, a script based on the Arabic language. When the computer arrived, it facilitated the conversion of documents from the Roman alphabet to the Arabic one. The technology had been pioneered and perfected by missionaries.

SIL and United Bible Societies (UBS) also developed the editing software, Paratext, which national translators like Mamadou used in their work. Other translation resources are the Logos Bible software and Translators Workplace. Typesetters use programmes like InDesign, Publishers, Roundtrip and Peachtree. During Covid, the consultant sessions happened on Zoom and this moved the work along faster.

Mamadou Diop

As books of the Bible were completed, aural recordings followed with Mamadou doing the readings. He recorded a third of the Bible before he died. These books were revised, but Artificial Intelligence made a way for his voice to be maintained for the revisions. Faith Comes By Hearing (FCBH), another translation organization with the requisite technology, was able to clone Mamadou’s voice. If Mamadou’s family approves, portions that were revised after his death can be recorded in his cloned voice, even though a different person will do the revised readings.

Mamadou’s children contribute

The Wolof Bible is now complete and the text is set. When Mamadou died, checks on consistency and readers’ helps such as book introductions and the glossary still needed to be done. Before Mamadou died, he told Marilyn that S.S. Diop was the most linguistically gifted of all his children. After Mamadou’s death, Marilyn heard S.S. Diop interpret a sermon at church and decided to give him a chance at completing outstanding work on the translation. She discovered that he had real grasp of the language. Mamadou had insisted that his children use proper Wolof in everyday speech and never allowed their mistakes to go unchecked.

I want them to hear Jesus speak to them in Wolof too.

Although S.S. Diop didn’t study the biblical languages, Mamadou had taught him translation principles. He also learned to use the available resources to improve the translation. He did some final readings for the text, modified archaic words, and checked for consistency in parallel passages. He helped to build the front and back matter and gave input for the cover design to reflect Wolof art and not Islamic art. He is also expanding a reader’s guide which his father had started.

“At first, I felt a sense of inadequacy for the task as I didn’t have the same qualifications as my father had. With time, I gained more confidence. I realized that I only had to avail myself and God would help me. He doesn’t give us a challenge without the ability to fulfil it.”

Agsila Diop, Mamadou’s daughter and a professional singer, has composed 40 songs from the verses her father translated. She makes videos of these for YouTube at Agsila Officiel.

The Wolof and the Bible

The Wolof, numbering about 7 million people, are listed as a least-reached people group in West Africa. S.S. Diop shares, “Senegal’s Wolofs came into contact with Islamic teachers from Mauritania and Algeria from as early as the 11th century. The Mouride sect of Islam originated in Senegal combining traditional beliefs with Islam. It revolves around religious leaders or brotherhoods who are believed to have spiritual powers and enough merit to intercede for others and help them get into heaven. Because of the close connection between Islam and Wolof culture, it is very difficult for a Wolof to extract himself from the Islamic teachers and adopt a different worldview.”

A Muslim friend once asked S.S. Diop, “We already have the Bible in English and in French, so why another one in Wolof?” He responded, “Do you realize what is happening to our language nowadays? It is becoming “Frenchized” with a mix of French and Wolof. That is not Wolof, but a different language. The Bible is a repository of the true Wolof language. You can use it to teach your children to preserve our language and culture.”

Currently, the entire Wolof Bible, a Wolof songbook and calendar, 99 names of God, and portions of the aural recordings with synchronized text are uploaded at kaddugyalla.com. For the fully revised print version, Marilyn says they are getting copyright permissions to insert a page of OT parchment and a page of NT papyrus. Afterwards, the print-ready copy will be sent to SIL’s Global Publishing Services for a final check and then to the South Korea Bible Society for submission to the printer. The translation team has received great testimonies about the impact of the translation so far.

S.S. Diop shares their vision for the Wolof Bible: “The Muslim lingers in uncertainty about salvation. We hope that God will use the translation, through his Holy Spirit, to bring many people to know Jesus Christ and his gift of forgiveness and eternal life through his death and resurrection. That was what drew me to become a Christian.”

“My father’s passion was to bring a spirit of “Wolofization” to the translation so it speaks to the hearts of the Wolof people. Now, I am following in his steps. The Islamic leaders of Senegal speak and preach Friday sermons in Wolof, and I want them to hear Jesus speak to them in Wolof too.”