While indigenous languages are disappearing at alarming rates around the world, two Mennonite Mission Network-supported ministries among the indigenous Toba-Qom people of Argentina are ensuring that the Toba-Qom language survives and flourishes.
In one ministry, a team of Toba-Qom translators, in partnership with the Argentine Bible Society, finished a 13-year process of re-translating the Old Testament in August. (Previously only portions of the Old Testament were available.)
Meanwhile, a team of four Toba-Qom speakers is beginning a Toba-Qom encyclopedic dictionary, building from the Vocabulario Toba-Qom (Toba-Qom Vocabulary) compiled in 1980 by mission workers Albert and Lois Buckwalter.
The Toba-Qom are a 70,000-member indigenous group living mostly in the Chaco region of Argentina. While the group has faced political challenges in preserving their land, traditions and language in the face of a rapidly modernizing Argentinian society, the external pressure has also influenced a resurgence of cultural pride. For example, the group has been popularly known as simply “Toba,” a name given to them by Spanish conquistadors. They have recently reclaimed their ancestral name, “Qom.”
There is also a movement for schools to become bilingual, instructing Toba-Qom students in both Spanish and Toba-Qom. José Oyanguren, an Argentine mission worker sent by Bragado Mennonite Church who is an International Partnership Worker with Mission Network, helps prepare bilingual Toba-Qom teachers and curriculum, and works with the dictionary team. He also works with a Toba-Qom Bible Institute training church leaders in their own language.
Toba-Qom community leaders have tirelessly advocated for official recognition, having won some victories. In one, the government of Chaco Province recently recognized indigenous languages (Qom, Mochoit, and Wichi) as official along with Spanish.
While the language projects are taking place in different cities with different partners, they are both contributing to the preservation of this rich and, according to the United Nations, endangered language.
A completed Toba-Qom Bible
A few years ago, a team of Toba-Qom translators finished revising a previous translation of the New Testament. They hope to be distributing the completed Bible within a year, after a final revision of the newly finished Old Testament.
Luis Acosta, coordinator of the Old Testament translation project, wrote: “By the grace of God, the sacrifice and perseverance of the brothers and sisters … we can say, ‘Alleluia! God is faithful.’”
Rafael Mansilla, a Toba-Qom community leader, pastor and translator, said that while the Toba-Qom people have read the Bible in Spanish and portions in their own language for many years, the new translation will bring greater insights and understanding for native Toba-Qom speakers, who will finally be able to read the full Scriptures in their heart language.
“People will be able to read the Bible in their own language, and because of this they will really know the contents of the Bible and value their own language,” Mansilla said. “This Bible can bring many blessings.”
Numerous workers from Mennonite Mission Network have lent support to the Toba-Qom translation teams throughout the years, including Richard Friesen, a mission worker who died in 2010 in Argentina after working with the Toba-Qom New Testament revision team for six years.
The translators, most of whom also pastor churches, have already gained many insights as a result of the work. At a women’s gathering at a local church, Mansilla preached on the story of the Exodus and the role women played in the liberation of the Israelites.
“I told them that God had a plan to save God’s people, and the principle actors were women: the midwives, Moses’ mother and sister, Pharaoh’s daughter,” Mansilla said. “I hadn’t noticed this before working so closely with the passage in the translation process.”
A dictionary, 20,000 words and growing
The previous Toba-Qom Vocabulary did not include definitions in Toba-Qom, but rather the closest Spanish equivalent. In the new encyclopedic dictionary, each entry includes a definition of the word in Toba-Qom, a sentence that uses the word, and then a Spanish equivalent and the same sentence in Spanish.
“We do this work as a team,” Diaz said. “We share ideas and search for the best definition.”
The team noted that many Toba-Qom words don’t have a Spanish equivalent. Furthermore, Toba-Qom grammar rules are different from Spanish.
“For example, a Toba-Qom word is modified if the person is sitting or standing,” said German Diaz, a member of the dictionary team.
Oyanguren said these projects, in addition to bringing new biblical insights, will help Toba-Qom people recognize the importance of their culture.
"This project awakens ‘dormant interest’ already in people, and motivates and encourages them," he said. "It inspires people to value what is theirs (language, culture) as a gift from God."
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Mennonite Mission Network, the mission agency of Mennonite Church USA, leads, mobilizes and equips the church to participate in holistic witness to Jesus Christ in a broken world. Media may contact Andrew Clouse at andrewc@mmnworld.net, 574-523-3024 or 866-866-2872, ext. 23024.
