Challenge of Translating “Snow” In Yoruba Bible and Its Influence on Congregational Singing Among Yoruba Christian Worshipers

Abstract

The word snow in Isaiah 1:18b which was transliterated as sno in the second line of the refrain of the hymn “What Can Wash Away My Sins?” in Yoruba Baptist hymnal poses a challenge of understanding to Yoruba Christians who lacked the expression of snow in the Yoruba language. The Quantitative research method was used with a questionnaire as an instrument of gathering data in Ogbomoso land, Nigeria. Findings revealed that 96% of respondents have never seen snow except on television and in pictures while 4% have physically seen it. 74% of respondents had a different Yoruba word for snow as against 24% which translation corresponds with Bibeli Yoruba. While testing the respondents’ understanding of the transliterated word for snow in The Yoruba hymnal, 32% have a full understanding of the word, 40% partially understood it, 10% have little understanding and 12% did not understand the word at all. It is being recommended that unfamiliar words in the Yoruba hymnal should be contextualized to enable users of the hymnal understand the message of the hymns in context.

Keywords

• translation
• snow
• yoruba hymnal
• yoruba