Hindko Translation of the New Testament Comes to Life
Some seeds take many years to sprout. Just ask Jean Sodemann.
Last summer, she received an email informing her that the New Testament had just been published for the first time the language of Hindko. For Jean, who has been a resident of Covenant Living of Northbrook, Illinois, for 26 years, the news was evidence of God’s relentless desire to reach all people with the good news.
In 1957, Jean signed up to serve with The Evangelical Alliance Mission (TEAM), based in Wheaton, Illinois. She was sent to the Abbotabad region of Pakistan where she served as a missionary nurse and eventually a Bible translator. She remained active on that mission field until 1997—40 years.
As a nurse, Jean became aware of the language of Hindko, which was spoken by less than 3 percent of the Pakistani population. It was not a written language, and in order to care for her patients, she began to learn the language from Hindko speakers who could also speak Urdu, the national language of Pakistan. As Jean became fluent, she began writing things down in Hindko, using the Persian script of Urdu and creating three additional symbols to represent sounds found only in Hindko. At the time Wycliffe Bible Translators were active in Pakistan, looking for languages into which the Scriptures had yet to be translated. They heard of Jean’s work and asked if she was interested in doing Bible translation. She wondered how to do that for people who could not read. Wycliffe translators suggested translating and then recording onto cassette tapes.
So in 1978, Jean began painstakingly translating the entire New Testament into Hindko. The work would take more than a decade to complete. She partnered with native Hindko speakers who helped her choose wording. After she finished a section, Wycliffe translators would review it for accuracy by talking with Hindko speakers about their understanding. Then she would contact a Pakistani recording technician from Global Recordings Network, who brought equipment and expertise to her town. The text was voiced by native speakers, with one voice for narration, another for Jesus, another for other speakers. Some of the speakers could read her script, but others repeated the words she dictated, recording line by line.
Sometimes they recorded in the hospital complex; other times outdoors, hoping the crows wouldn’t add their voices. As the recordings were captured and copied, they were played at hospital bedsides and distributed throughout the region as the patients went home. Those recordings are still used to spread the gospel today.
In 1997, Jean retired and moved from Pakistan to Covenant Living of Northbrook, where she has lived an active life of service ever since.
What ever happened to her handwritten translation of the New Testament? Over the years, the Hindko people became literate for educational and political reasons as well as religious ones. For five years after Jean retired, Wycliffe seemed to be working toward publication. But then the team assigned to the Hindko project were sent to work at the home office in England, and Jean heard nothing about the project for more than 20 years.
This summer, without warning, Jean received that unexpected email saying that her translation had been published. The publishers divided the New Testament into two books: the Gospels/Acts/Revelation for evangelism, and the Epistles to teach believers. That news reassured her that the Hindko Church is growing and thriving.
The seeds planted so many years ago had matured and borne good fruit. Now Jean says with a smile, “It shows that God’s hand was on this—it is a joy to see the faithfulness of God.”
