Neils Christensen
Northern News Services

Rae (Sep 01/03) - After eight years of working, the Summer Institute of Linguistics has finally completed their task.

The group has finished translating the New Testament into the Dogrib language.

On Aug. 23 a dedication ceremony was held in Rae to celebrate the release of the Dogrib Bible.

Local residents packed the gym in Elizabeth Mackenzie school for the event and for their chance to receive their own translated Bible.

"It's a wonderful day," said Mary Siemens, who worked on the translation project.

"We've all been looking forward to this day," added Marie Louis Bouvier-White, another translator.

Siemens said one of the reasons the day is special to them is because of all the work that went into the translating the Bible, which translated into Dogrib means God's Book At Jesus' Birth. About 10 people worked on the project.

Siemens admits the work wasn't easy and at times it was very frustrating for the group. One of the problems they had was translating spiritual concepts into Dogrib. Before a translation was complete it went through numerous checks to make sure the meaning wasn't lost.

"Some of the concepts are completely different from our language," she said.

During the project the group relied a lot on Siemens' mother Elizabeth Mackenzie, who has a wide knowledge on Dogrib meanings and spiritual phrases.

"We relied on the elders a lot to help us," said Siemens. "Spiritual concepts have been lost in present day Dogrib and we had to dig these words out by talking to the elders."

Jacob Feenstra, coordinator of the project, said it was hard to believe that with all the work they put into the New Testament translation it is finally over.