Translation of Doctrinal Tracts

In the months of September and October (2025), through the translation ministry of Christian Lingua, I received the following small projects:

1. Doctrinal tracts that ask the question about the Bible and Jesus. It is both doctrinal and evangelical in its tone. The source materials are originally produced by ‘Jesus316’ ministries (www.jesus316.org). They also have specific guidelines when it comes to translation that I need to follow. Here are the typeset sample Tagalog translations that I produced: Sample 1 and Sample 2.
2. The other one is an introductory document that talks about a ministry related to ‘child abuse.’ From a pastoral point of view, the material is an awareness opener to me. I hope there will be a big project that will come up in the future that focuses on this issue. I think it’s timely for the Church to become intentional and strategic about this issue, particularly in an age of social media. If I receive a sample typeset, I’ll provide a link to the PDF copy.

Translation Experience

The doctrinal tracts were easy to translate, but somehow I didn’t have room for creative translation (it has to do with sentence structure, transition, and phrasing style fitted to Tagalog readers or hearers), although the ‘Guideline for Translation‘ seems to encourage that—”the best version of the language.” As I observed it, my editor’s style for this project is a word-for-word translation.

The document about ‘child abuse’ is a little bit challenging to translate because you’re dealing with words and concepts that address a sensitive issue. Theological concepts are my forte, not this kind. The manager of the project wanted a formal translation. My editor did a great job on this one, and I learned a lot.