Most-translated movie, ‘Jesus,’ hits 2,100 languages, will use AI to expand to more dialects
[ad_1]
A film about the life of Jesus made in 1979 has just been translated into its 2,100th language and the group behind the film expects to use artificial intelligence to add an estimated 200 more languages by 2025.
The executive heading up outreach for the film “Jesus” said Monday that AI is being deployed to speed up translations in the same way Bible translators are using the technology to advance their written work.
“The AI applications that we’re looking at when it comes to translation are in step with the Bible translation community organizations such as Wycliffe Bible Translators and others,” Josh Newell, executive director of the Jesus Film Project, said in an interview.
Mr. Newell said AI may also be used better to synchronize the translated dialog with the action on screen.
“We also have some other emerging AI developments that we’re looking at to match the lip-sync much better, so when the actors on the screen pronounce Mandarin, they’ll look more like a native speaker than they do currently,” he said.
The newest language is Waorani, spoken by approximately 3,000 indigenous people of Ecuador’s Amazon region. Nearly 70 years ago, warriors from that tribe martyred five American Christian missionaries, including Jim Elliot and Nate Saint.
The story of those killings, including the decision by Elliot’s widow, Elisabeth, to live with the Waoranis and the eventual conversion of many tribe members to Christianity, is widely known in evangelical circles.
“Because the tribe has been the focal point of so much effort or attention, it’s a unique thing to have the Jesus film translated after all this time into the Waorani language,” Mr. Newell said.
Mr. Newell said members of the Waorani tribe asked for the film, which draws its text from the Gospel of Luke, to be translated into their language.
“Jesus’s words coming in a visual form that people can understand really helps to accelerate not just the sharing of the gospel, but the receiving of the gospel message because they don’t have to take time to learn to read,” he said. “In many places, they’re still very much aural learners. … And that certainly is the case for the older generation” of Waorani people.
Mr. Newell said the translation effort is now the most notable aspect of the decades-old film venture.
“The most dignifying thing we can do as followers of Jesus is to share about Jesus in the ‘heart language’ that people speak,” he said.
[ad_2]
