Acts 24:10 starts off with a pretty basic phrase. It certainly did not appear to be difficult to translate. Take a look in a few different translations:
NLT: The governor then motioned for Paul to speak.
ESV: And when the governor had nodded to him to speak...
Swahili Union Version (my English translation of it): And when the governor waved his hand for him to speak...
In this little opening there are no theological words here, no out-of-chronological-order sentences to restructure, and nothing at all that should take more than a minute to translate into Zanaki, really. However, it took us a little while and quite a few questions to make this verse sound good in Zanaki, believe it or not.
The Zanaki translators had followed the Swahili translation that says the governor waved his hand to show Paul that he was to speak. I asked if when there is a roomful of Zanaki people, if the person in charge would wave his hand to someone as a "You there, your turn now to talk," gesture. The translators said that yes, if he did this, it would be understood. Our goal, however, is not just that it would be understood, but that it would be natural and clear. What would a Zanaki chief do to tell someone to speak up and say his piece? After some more pretend scenarios and discussion, finally one of them said that it would be his finger, not his whole hand. Whew!
So we ended up with this translation:
At that time the governor showed Paul with finger so that he should speak.
It might sound strange when translated literally into English, but it is great in Zanaki!
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