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<DIV><SPAN class=921103602-10082005>FWD to list</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Verdana>John Burton</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left><FONT
face=Tahoma>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> MJaeschke25@aol.com
[mailto:MJaeschke25@aol.com] <BR><B>Sent:</B> Friday, 5 August 2005 9:03
PM<BR><B>To:</B> john.burton@anu.edu.au<BR><B>Subject:</B> Revision Mihalic
Dictionary of Mel. Pidgin<BR><BR></FONT></DIV><FONT id=role_document
face=Arial color=#000000>
<DIV>This is to let you know that I am keenly interested in the work of
revision on the Mihalic Dictionary of Melanesian Pidgin. I myself grew up in
Papua New Guinea as a missionary kid from the age of 8 through 17 (1955-1962).
During this time I have learned the language and was exposed to the
various dialects and vernaculars. My main residence was in the
Western Highlands District (Ogelbeng and Kotna). At age 11 I was enroled
into the missionary boarding school, Katherine Lehman School at Wau, and
later into St. Peters Lutheran College in Brisbane. The school breaks
(two per annum) I spent with my parents who were working at Kotna
and we attended worship services in Pidgin and Melpa. At that time we
only had the Liklik Lotu Buk, compiled and edited by Rev. John Sievert in
1959, the first edition. It was a first attempt to put the
language on an official platform because at that time the language, being
in its embryonal state, was due to replace, at least in theory, some of
the church languages and the corresponding dialects. It
made communications from one tribe to another very much easier than the
local languages. As I grew into that language I noticed the similarity and
heavy assimilation of English vocabulary et.al. Missionaries were often
at odds with this language especially when preparing a sermon. Some concepts
you could not express in Pidgin as you can in English. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>In the last 20 or so years my interest in the Melanesian Pidgin has
been revitalized. This was due to the fact that I was an applicant for a
position in the ELCPNG in 1984/1985. I had hoped to be able to come back and
join the mission staff. Early 1985 I attended a refresher course in
preparation for this but to no avail. It was during this time that my father,
a retired missionary, had been advocating the necessity to create theological
literature in the vernaculars and that the time for missionaries is fast
coming to a close. I took up that challenge and started to work on a Bible
dictionary in Pidgin. In the following years I contacted missionaries who just
returned from PNG and asked them about the future of such a project. Their
reply was rather discouraging and so I dropped the whole project, though still
interested to pursue such a project. Then I started to translate some of
the stories of the first missionaries e.g. Christian Keysser because I
sensed that there is a need for the New Guineans to have access to the
historical and missiological sources which are at the moment still only to be
found in mission archives in German but have not yet been translated into
English or Pidgin. I also was negotiating with the mission departments here in
Germany whether I could be empowered and officially accredited to venture into
this - what I consider as crucial - project. The response was ignorance and
little interest. So I continued on my own and translated two booklets written
by Keysser on how the Gospel entered the hinterland from Sattelberg in the
Finschhafen area. After completion I was given the book "In His Service" by
Esther Doktor Wegenast and began to translate this into Pidgin. The book deals
with the reconstruction of PNG after World War II. Having nowhere to turn to
have it published I made some attempt and contacted the German Society of
Missiology. There my request for further consideration still has not been
given attention to. In the meantime I informed the husband of Esther,
who passed away some years ago, of my intention and he sent me the other
book Esther wrote entitled "Go Softly The Darkness" which I read
with great interest and which I started translating into Pidgin. This book
tells the story of the Japanese invasion of mainland PNG and the missionary
prisoners of war. It is my intention to put these two books together and
present them to the Church in PNG. My question: Is there any
publisher that would be interested to see these books funded
and published? I would like to have contact to the group which is working
on the Pidgin language revising the Mihalic Dictionary and also would like to
become a part of the revision team. I do think this language is going to have
a future if it can avoid the pitfall of becoming a corrupted English as I have
seen it in the "Wantok" newspaper. I also would like to continue translating
works into Pidgin wherever there is interest. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>1999 I revisited PNG and talked with people in the Church office of the
ELCPNG about this my concern. I realized that the New Guineans will have no
resources to monitor the language and thus just let it take its course.
So I do welcome anyone and wish to coordinate and cooperate in the endeavor to
give the language a more acceptable face as it now seems to have. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>This is my contribution to the discussion pertaining to the revision of
the Dictionary of Melanesian Pidgin and I hope it may not only be the
vocabulary that gets attention but also its future usage. I hope to hear from
some of you who are working on this so important project. Thank you.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>In Him</DIV>
<DIV>Martin Jaeschke</DIV>
<DIV>Hindenburg St. 26</DIV>
<DIV>91054 Erlangen</DIV>
<DIV>Germany</DIV>
<DIV>e-mail: <A
href="mailto:MJaeschke25@aol.com">MJaeschke25@aol.com</A></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
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