Believe it or not, I actually meant to do one of these last week. I actually had things to write about. And then, like all good intentions, they went sadly by the wayside.
But we're here now. So let's do this!
My language project for the last couple of weeks has been Portuguese. Four groups of it, to be exact. And it had to be perfect because as soon as these groups are done, they are being published. Woohoo! But, naturally, I encountered issues.
This time, it had to do with the booklet titles. Because when you have 64 booklets on related topics, why wouldn't you refer to other booklets within your material? You would. We believe in our stuff! You should read more of it! But one problem of translating the booklets in groups is that you sometimes can't remember exactly how you translated a booklet title before. Or you didn't quite understand the nuance of it. (For example: we have a booklet in English called "Church Planting Guide." In the initial Portuguese translation, it came out something like "A Guide for Church Planters." But it's more of a how and less of a who. So now it's "A Guide for Planting Churches." Subtle. But it makes a difference.) We tried to reduce redundant tags as much as possible. But there's no way to catch all of them. I probably spent a full week cross-referencing paragraphs and booklet titles and the Student Activity Guide, which lists all booklet titles at least twice, sometimes as many as five. I want this to be a good product, and I don't want there to be any confusion. Can we catch everything? No.
But I can try.
In the midst of Portuguese and making funding calls and meeting with people, we're also planning the ECC Retreat. That has been a trip and a half. All of the questions you can think of: where, when, who, what, why (because we need to rest is not a good enough answer, apparently), and how. Where and when turned out to be fairly simple, although we got something of a late start (you really need to get the venue in at least a year out). Who is ever changing - do we invite the wider world of ECC? Because that's a lot of people. Just office staff? What about our remote people who often call in for meetings? And do we want a speaker? Someone else to do music? It's supposed to be restful, after all. What - that is a minefield, along with how. You need activities that will appeal to the largest common denominator, and let me tell you, we are a very diverse field.
We're getting there, though. I am confident that it will be a beneficial time for everyone.
I think that's about it. I'm hopeful that this will again be a regular occurrence. I'm still struggling with life in general, but it's getting better in dribs and drabs. (That's a weird phrase. Dribs and drabs. What does it mean? Why dribs and not drips? This is going to bother me.)
Right. Going now.
But we're here now. So let's do this!
My language project for the last couple of weeks has been Portuguese. Four groups of it, to be exact. And it had to be perfect because as soon as these groups are done, they are being published. Woohoo! But, naturally, I encountered issues.
This time, it had to do with the booklet titles. Because when you have 64 booklets on related topics, why wouldn't you refer to other booklets within your material? You would. We believe in our stuff! You should read more of it! But one problem of translating the booklets in groups is that you sometimes can't remember exactly how you translated a booklet title before. Or you didn't quite understand the nuance of it. (For example: we have a booklet in English called "Church Planting Guide." In the initial Portuguese translation, it came out something like "A Guide for Church Planters." But it's more of a how and less of a who. So now it's "A Guide for Planting Churches." Subtle. But it makes a difference.) We tried to reduce redundant tags as much as possible. But there's no way to catch all of them. I probably spent a full week cross-referencing paragraphs and booklet titles and the Student Activity Guide, which lists all booklet titles at least twice, sometimes as many as five. I want this to be a good product, and I don't want there to be any confusion. Can we catch everything? No.
But I can try.
In the midst of Portuguese and making funding calls and meeting with people, we're also planning the ECC Retreat. That has been a trip and a half. All of the questions you can think of: where, when, who, what, why (because we need to rest is not a good enough answer, apparently), and how. Where and when turned out to be fairly simple, although we got something of a late start (you really need to get the venue in at least a year out). Who is ever changing - do we invite the wider world of ECC? Because that's a lot of people. Just office staff? What about our remote people who often call in for meetings? And do we want a speaker? Someone else to do music? It's supposed to be restful, after all. What - that is a minefield, along with how. You need activities that will appeal to the largest common denominator, and let me tell you, we are a very diverse field.
We're getting there, though. I am confident that it will be a beneficial time for everyone.
I think that's about it. I'm hopeful that this will again be a regular occurrence. I'm still struggling with life in general, but it's getting better in dribs and drabs. (That's a weird phrase. Dribs and drabs. What does it mean? Why dribs and not drips? This is going to bother me.)
Right. Going now.
Dribs and drabs is a great phrase. But yeah, I'm probably going to have to go look it up. Also, how long ago did your blog get an update? Have I mentioned that I don't always notice things right away ...
ReplyDeleteIt's entirely possible that I backdated my post that I published yesterday...
Delete