Is Google Translate bad for the multicultural worship leader?
Have you gotten desperate to find a good translation for a song or didn’t want to wait to find someone you could ask to help you? I know I have.
What I’ve done in the past, actually, is to hold off on doing a particular song or prayer in another language until I had a native speaker.
How to use Google Translate
A few years ago when I was at the beginning of my ministry I was spending a lot of time sitting down with people and going through songs line by line. I was certainly forced to do this with the Hmong language because Google doesn’t have that language as part of their list of languages, even now.
But, when I was translating original songs that I wrote, particularly into Spanish and Portuguese, it was helpful to have a Google Translation as a starting point. Why?
Believers who speak different languages have varying abilities to translate a song. For example, a second generation Hispanic person is going to translate a song differently than a first generation Hispanic immigrant, right?
I know if you gave me a song to translate into Korean it would be very simplified. But if you gave a song to my friend, Jay Kim, of King’s Region, you would probably get a more exact translation.
Another factor to consider is that someone talks in conversation is different than how they write, which is probably one of the downsides to using Google Translate.
Suggestions for using Google Translate as a multicultural worship leader:
1. Use Google Translate in order to have a starting point. Using that translation as a starting point will vary depending on the native speaker you are working with.
2. Always…ALWAYS….use a native speaker to make sure your translation works. Whether it’s someone’s translation ability, generational differences, or spoken vs. written translation…make sure you talk to someone. Why? Because I’m assuming the reason why you want to sing in another language is to honor believers who have different heart language than yours, inviting others to join in honoring those believers, and, finally to worship the Living God in unity.
Questions for you
Have you found Google Translate helpful as it relates to multicultural church/worship? Have you found Google Translate make things more difficult?
© 2012 – 2011, Peter Park. All rights reserved.
What does it mean to “Create Space” for people?
This phrase, CREATING SPACE, is something my pastor uses a lot. The purpose of that space is to include and allow people to express and use their gifts to serve the Body, at least in part. And for the multicultural worship leader it can be a helpful idea to help include others in the worship service.
Creating space for leading a song
Recently a few of our worship team members have been learning how to lead a song. They’ve primarily focused on solo work in the past…either in the verses of a song or an entire song.
But, now, we’re shifting from taking those songs they’ve done solo work on and thinking through how to lead the song with the congregation in mind. And it’s been a great learning experience for all of us.
They’ve had to think a lot more about the dynamics of how they’re singing a song affects the congregation’s ability to follow them. If they plan to improvise on some parts, then the rest of the team knows that we need to keep on the melody.
Timing has also been another aspect that we’ve been working on. We’ve focused on how to sing a song in a consistent manner, in the verses and chorus, which would be easier for the congregation to follow.
Now, because of the nature of what THIS blog is about, I want to mention that these two people that I’ve been working with are African American and the songs that we’ve done at church are songs that they’ve grown up with.
I realize that as I spend time teaching them how to lead worship that I’m teaching them how to lead worship the way I would. And as we continue to learn from one another, in one sense, they come out of the learning process taking their background in music and fusing it with mine.
This does not have to be a bad thing as I believe we have mutual respect for one another and desire to honor one another.
And the benefit for me is that I’m thinking much more critically about how I lead worship at church. For example, how do I lead worship in a way that speaks to different people groups?
Questions for you
How do you create space for people in your worship service? What is your process for helping people think through how they can serve in the service?
© 2012 – 2011, Peter Park. All rights reserved.
Be ready to serve
Today’s blog post is in response to my friend Nikki Lerner’s post called Always be ready to lead. You’ll see in the video how God used Nikki to serve in a different church unexpectedly.
Being a servant
Something I want you to know about my friend Nikki Lerner is that not only is she an experienced multicultural worship leader, vocalist, and musician…she has an incredible heart to serve others.
Last summer, at Proskuneo’s Worship Institute, I saw her spend a lot of time listening to students, pouring knowledge into students, and working with students to help them grow their gifts in the Lord. And that attitude seems to be carried wherever she is at any given moment.
Now, I’m not saying that Nikki’s perfect. I think she would be the first person to tell you that. But she is someone who is mature in her walk with the Lord. There’s no question about that.
This caused me to ask several questions of myself, which I invite you to ask of yourself:
1. Are the gifts that God has given us only for our local congregation?
2. How can we serve other congregations when we’re “just visiting“?
3. How we shine God’s light and bear the fruit of the Spirit wherever we are?
4. What does it mean to live a life of worship Monday through Saturday?
5. How does Mark 10:45 give us perspective on serving others?
© 2012 – 2011, Peter Park. All rights reserved.