Story from Grimsby Telegraph

Trudy's signing up to the word of the Bible

A sign language expert is developing a mobile phone application to bring the word of God to the deaf.

Trudy Field is up for an award for her work in translating the Bible into British Sign Language (BSL).

Though deaf people can still read a Bible, written English is often their second language.

Mrs Field, who worships at the New Life Church on Brumby Wood Lane, was spurred into action when she saw deaf people struggling to understand a sermon at her church.

The Bottesford resident said: "English is a second language to most deaf people, so it's like me trying to read the Bible in French. You get the gist but not the full meaning."

She hopes deaf people can one day enjoy access to the word of God in their first language, and is hard at work translating.

"We would love for people to be able to open their iPhone and have a sign language Bible as an app. The first sections are going to studio soon and will hopefully be available in January.", she said.

An American Sign Language version of the bible has existed for years but it is completely different to BSL. Attempts to tell biblical stories in BSL have been made before, but this will be the first comprehensive translation.

"I'm not just picking the nice bits - we want to do a scholarly translation in a natural form. A Bible scholar advises us on the original Greek, and the drafts go to a focus group made up of deaf people. They tell you if the BSL is accurate and natural".

She said it is difficult work, as some words in the Bible do not exist in BSL, and there is some regional variation in sign language.

"If we find something isn't a very good translation, we can't just change a word or two, we have to film the whole section again. Narrative passages, where Jesus walks from here to there, are fairly straightforward. But on more intricate teaching, it takes much longer to translate."

The project began in 2006 and has received funding from some Christian groups such as the Bible society.

But progress could not be made without people giving up huge amounts of their free time.

"I worked for British Steel before I had children but have always loved languages. Deaf people should have the right to access the word of God through their first language.", said Mrs Field.

The winners of the Signature Annual Awards, which recognises excellence in communication with deaf people, will be announced at a London ceremony on 12 November.

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