Saontsin' Añahare (TDXEBL)

Overview

"Saontsin' Añahare" is a complete Bible translation in the Tandroy-Mahafaly dialect of Malagasy, the work of Steve Lellelid, who spent 20 years translating the Bible for the Tandroy people of southern Madagascar [1][2]. Lellelid first spent 16 years creating a written alphabet and dictionary for Tandroy, which previously had no written form, collecting vocabulary by traveling through the region and translating expressions from Tandroy to French to English [2]. The Tandroy people had refused to adopt the official Malagasy language, making a translation in their own dialect essential for Scripture access [2]. The translation is copyrighted in 2023 and is designated as a draft version that continues to be updated [1]. It is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license 4.0 [1].

Translation History

Lellelid's work extended beyond Bible translation to include literacy development. He started a pilot reading program that grew from five training facilities to 300 mobile centers traveling around the geographic region [2]. As part of the effort, 7,000 copies of a storybook containing 36 biblical stories were printed to generate interest, with plans to distribute 20,000 printed Bibles using a community-based model [2].

Language and People

Tandroy-Mahafaly (ISO 639-3: tdx) is a dialect of Malagasy spoken in southern Madagascar. The Tandroy community maintains a distinct linguistic identity separate from standard Malagasy [2].

References