Speaking of books, a new book on the Bayash (Boyash), one of the Roma groups for whom we are translating the Bible, was recently published. It contains a chapter I wrote exploring the impact that the Croatian language has had on the Bayash (Roma) language, and what effect that has on Bible translation (see here for more info).

For example, Bayash does not have a large number of kinship terms, They have terms for “brother”, “sister”, “son”, “daughter”, “husband”, and “wife”, for example, but don’t have terms for “brother-in-law”, “sister-in-law”, “aunt”, “grandmother”, “male cousin” and “female cousin”, so for those they use Croatian words. Interestingly, there is no word in Bayash for “parents”, so if we want to use only Bayash words in a Bible passage, we have to say “father and mother”, but if we want to use the term “parents” in the Bible translation, we have to use the Croatian word. 

There are many similar areas where we have to make decisions when to use a Bayash (Roma) word in the Bible translation, and when to use Croatian. As always, we ask for your prayers for wisdom as we deal with these and other issues as we seek to give the Word of God to the Roma in a language they understand best.

Thank you for your prayers and financial support!

Todd & Pamala Price (Matthew, Kirsten, Daniel, Ariela)