Achí 'devil' gets tongue-tied during temptation

SAN MIGUEL CHICAJ, Guatemala — Amid false starts, tongue tripping and laughter, the devil spent the better part of Tuesday morning tempting Jesus.

The devil wouldn’t have spent so long if he were more used to reading his native language. But this young devil — played by a young Achí Mayan man named Rodriguez — struggled to read his native language.

So began the New Testament recording here in the Rabinal Achí Mayan language. After lunch, the devil rode off on his bicycle, content he had done his work well.

Viña Studios’ recording duo, Carlos and Miguel, are directing the recording which will provide Achí speakers with an audio version of the translated New Testament. The recording is the 28th that Viña has produced. It is sponsored by the New Mexico-based ministry, Faith Comes By Hearing, which has recorded more than 300 audio Scripture translations.

After the devil (a local teacher) departed, an unknown disciple and Martha, the sister of Mary, entered the studio to record their biblical lines for the dramatized recording. Faith Comes By Hearing has found that indigenous peoples respond better to dramatized recordings, and each one requires 25 different readers.

Rodrigo and Carol Barrera worked together on the translation for nearly 35 years before shipping it to the printers in Korea earlier this year. “Two years ago I thought we had finished,” Rodrigo told me last evening. Then, his supervisors with SIL International advised him to use a computer program to recheck the translation, taking special care in difficult passages. “I thought we had finished and I cried with happiness, but it was good that we revised it. They were things that had escaped us.”

Viña’s audio recording may be released at about the same time or sooner than the printed Scriptures, sometime early next year.