Who Is the Dumb Consultant Who Approved This? (Oh, It Was Me!)

Guest: Randy Groff.

Subtitle: How Ethical is Parachute Consulting?

Watch the original presentation.

A big thank-you to Randy Groff for being willing to share his talk on this podcast.

In this presentation, Randy Groff critiques the "parachute consulting" model, where specialists briefly visit unfamiliar regions to approve Bible translations based solely on back translations. Drawing on decades of experience in West Africa, he compares traditional translation projects—which involve deep linguistic immersion—with modern Luke partnership projects that prioritize speed and local drafting. Groff’s research reveals that relying on back translations often conceals significant grammatical and contextual errors, which he only discovered after performing an exhaustive interlinear analysis. He argues that the pressure for cost reduction and rapid results in the non-Western world compromises the quality of sacred texts. Ultimately, Groff calls for a return to rigorous oversight and intermediate linguistic checks to ensure that local communities receive accurate and ethical translations.

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