One of the key pioneers behind a controversial new £250,000 translation of the Bible into Jamaican patois is in London this week.

Rev Courtney Stewart, General Secretary of the Bible Society of the West Indies, said, "Patois defines us. It is instinctively Jamaican. If God speaks my language then he communicates with me - where I am. It is crucial."

Already 40 per cent of the New Testament has been translated in draft form.

Patois is spoken by five million round the world but until now has been considered low status. Almost all Jamaicans know it, but only recently have the middle and upper classes spoken it in public.

The Bible Society is working with the University of the West Indies to develop a writing system that will effectively put patois down on paper for the first time, defining rules, punctuation, spelling and capitalisation. According to the Bible Society, the 12-year project is much bigger than just another Bible translation. "It is the first official recognition of patois itself," the organisation said.

The first person to suggest a patois Bible was Dr Faith Linton, board member of the Bible Society of the West Indies. "The board was shocked," she admits. "Patois is considered by some to be irreverent and aggressive. In certain circles, people were ashamed to speak patois."

Traditionalists are concerned that translating the Bible into patois is another example of 'dumbing down'. Former Conservative Minister Ann Widdecombe said: 'It's one thing to turn the Bible into modern vernacular, but to turn it into patois is utterly ridiculous. When you dumb down you take away any meaning it might have.'


An example of the patois translation:

Luke's Gospel, Chapter 10: vs 30, 31
Patois: Jiizas ansa im se, 'Wan man a go dong fram Jeruusilem tu Jeriko an som tiif grab im. Dem tek we im kluoz, biit im an go we lef im haaf ded. Wan priis a go dong di siem ruod, si di man, an paas pan di ada said.'

Revised English Bible: Jesus replied, 'A man was on his way from Jerusalem down to Jericho when he was set upon by robbers, who stripped and beat him, and went off leaving him half dead. It so happened that a priest was going down by the same road, and when he saw him, he went past on the other side.'

On the web: www.biblesociety.org.uk/jamaica