British Jesuit to translate Bible for Guyana

BY ROBERT VAN EGGHEN
A BRITISH Jesuit biblical scholar is to translate the Bible into Patamona for the first time in an attempt to make the word of God more accessible to indigenous people of Guyana in South America.
Fr Nicholas King, a tutor of biblical studies at Campion Hall in Oxford, will spend a week among the Patamona Amerindians in the Pakaraima Mountains of Guyana.
Along with Fr Patrick Martin and several other Christian scholars, he will endeavour to translate the Bible into the mainly oral and aural language.
Patamona is the native language of around 5,000 people in Guyana, though it is rarely written or read. "The people in this part of Guyana speak English," said Fr King.
"I will be offering technical advice on the translation," he said, "so that the local Amerindians will be able to read the Good News in their native tongue for the first time."
The official language of Guyana is English. There is a majority of Christians in the country, most of whom are Protestant.