Creole translation of the Gospel of Mark now available

For every critic out there who is against accepting Creole (Kriol) as a language, it seems there’s an advocate. Di Bileez Kriol Projek has been working for several years now on a grammar resource book for teachers and has published several works in Kriol. Rodney Gordon, a member of Di Bileez Kriol Projek, says the Bible is in every other language spoken in Belize and it’s about time it was done in Kriol. They’ve made a first step, translating the Gospel of Mark. Today they launched the project, “Di Gaspl a Maak” in Belize Creole.

Rodney Gordon, Di Bileez Kriol Projek

“I am not an Englishman; I’m not an African man either. I’m a Kriol man and I have a right. You have a right to have your language, even if you weren’t aware of the need to have your language in the written form, in front of you and can be respected by peoples everywhere in this world.”

Ken Decker, Di Bileez Kriol Projek

“As long as children think that Kriol is just a dialect of English, as long as they think, if I clean up my Kriol, then I’m speaking English, they will never learn English.”

Rodney Gordon

“It will take any individual some time of dedicated work to be able to read this or any other language.”

Ken Decker

“It is important when someone is trying to learn Kriol though that they read it out loud, cause when you hear yourself saying the words… But everyone I’ve ever put it in front of and ask them to read this, within a few lines, they are reading it pretty fluently.”

If you would like a free copy of “Di Gaspl a Maak,” you can contact Pastor Rodney Gordon. The booklet was printed in the United States and published by Di Bileez Kriol Bible Projek. The project is planning to continue with the translation of the Bible.