Speech Analyzer Still Used in Papua New Guinea

Dear partners in missions,

This is the month when we think of valentine cards and valentine candy. Our thoughts then turn more intensely to the love of our sweethearts or families. I pray that I may come to know and feel more deeply the love of our Lord: to comprehend the width and length and the depth and height and as a result be filled with all the fullness of God. Further, that this overflow into a lost world will bring Glory to God as it brings lost souls to Him! (Ephesians 3)

SPEECH ANALYZER STILL USED in PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Bible translator Roland Fumey finally arrived in PNG with four children after a 14-year delay and has been there since 1989. He is shown here on furlough in 2002 while I was helping to develop the Speech Analyzer (SA) you see on my desk. Roland is speaking Kuni-Boazi which is displayed on the computer. Yesterday, I learned he is still using SA to unravel the Kuni dialect! Most of you were our support base during the five years I was privileged to help develop SA before moving on to help develop two other Bible translation-related computer programs. So your prayers, 1998-2002, are still bearing fruit in Bible translation! (I LOVE to say that!) Kuni, is a tonal language which changes word meaning by subtle pitch inflections. The Kuni-Boazi had something around 10 different tone levels, as I recall, as well as 3 or 4 semantic indicators beyond that. The development of Speech Analyzer literally revolutionized translation of tonal languages, shaving years off the time for a translation. Here we see how the same word can have SEVEN different meanings depending on pitch inflections, or their sequence. Roland told me some words can have 16 different meanings and there are over 100 tonal sequences. Pray for Roland and many others who are using Speech Analyzer in Bible translation worldwide. Pray for Roland’s Kuni translation project. Also pray for my research project which could add a major enhancement to SA one day!

Don’t tell God how big your ‘storm’ is. Tell the storm how big your God is! 

He is able to do exceeding, abundantly, above all we may ask or think! Eph. 3:20 

Tom and Irene Hodges – Bible Translation Tech Support