Chapter 9: Literacy and Translation

Literacy in PNG began to emerge during early colonization (late 1800s – 1940s) when missionaries were allowed by the colonial government to teach PNG how to read and write in their local vernacular or lingua franca (Tok Pisin and Hiri Motu). A change to teach English to prepare workers for low level government and business positions took place. However, when Australia took control after WWII, it banished all schools using vernacular languages and established English as the official language of instruction. The outcomes-based curriculum failed the bulk of PNG’s primary and secondary school’s students, many of whom are semi-literate and were struggling to obtain employment and live a comfortable life.

Literacy has been in the national discussions since its independence. For the past 20 years, PNG’s literacy rate has been increasing marginally.  In 2000, it was 57.3% and in 2010 it was 61.6% which increased only 4.26%.  The Spotlight reported that a recently published report indicated that just 23.7% of grade 5 students nationally reached the expected proficiency level for literacy, lower than the regional Pacific neighbors.

The report suggested that the low pace in the last two decades was in part due to the ever-changing educational reforms. In addition, the report also lists other causes such as poor teaching skill levels and knowledge, diverse languages, frequency teacher and student absenteeism, and the lack of appropriate reading books and teaching support materials. In one study, the researchers found that when reading was taught in English only, 4% read well while over 50% had no idea how written language works. But when children were taught in their own languages, 30% learned to read well…and were seven times more successful at acquiring literacy than if taught in English only.

PNG continues to have a low literacy rate for any number of reasons including lack of educational facilities, illiteracy among parents, social and gender barriers, and poverty. One conclusion included in the report was to teach in the vernacular and then to English in grade 3.  While this method has been successful elsewhere, it has failed a lot of PNG students due to improper implementation.

According to WordPoint.com, there are between 270 – 300 languages that have NO portion of the Bible.  In the neighboring western portion of the island, Indonesia, has 684 living languages with 280 having no portion of Scripture in their heart language. Literacy is indeed a major stumbling block in the Bible translation process. According to Wycliffe, the cost to begin Bible translation is $19,500. According to the same source, the goal of the major translation organizations is to have the New Testament in every language by 2050.

Wycliffe Global Alliance has shared various data regarding living languages and the Bible translation successes and work yet to be done.  Table 1 below describes the status of Bible translation worldwide among the 7,160 living languages.

Table 1: Bible Translation Status

In its 2023 Scripture Access Status report, Wycliffe assesses those with no portion of Scripture.  Table 2 consolidates all the languages that at least some portion of Scripture (3,658). Then divides the remaining into “need to start,” “initial in progress,” and “none, likely no need.” The table also provides a reasonable estimate of the population in each category. The disturbing number is the final category (likely no need). If we examine the number of speakers in each of the 1,148 languages, one can quickly see that many are close to be devoid of any speakers.  The average is 8,360 speakers per language.

Table 2: Language Status with No Portion of Scripture

The final table examines the detail of the “need to start” category with respect to the area of the world in which the languages are found. Table 3 clearly shows that Asia and Africa have 435 and 382 languages respectively but covers almost one-hundred million people. The Pacific category contains the PNG island nation and also shows that the number of speakers per language group is just over 1,000.

Table 3: Need to Start

Sources:

• The National Research Institute Papua New Guinea, Spotlight, “Illiteracy: A Growing Concern in Papua New Guinea. Volume 14, Issue 7, June 2021.
• Wycliffe Global Alliance: 2023 Scripture Access Status
• Various websites:
  • WordPoint.com
  • macrotrends.com
  • The Christian Standard
  • Deaf Bible Society
  • Ministry Watch
  • Ethnologue