The Inequality of Unwritten Languages: Some Reflections on the Christian Use of the Vernacular in Eastern Africa

Abstract

For a global cross-cultural religion one of the most significant changes brought about by the Second Vatican Council of the Roman Catholic Church held in Rome 1962-65 was the decision to use vernaculars liturgically and to break away from the previous centrality of Latin. So suddenly vernacular languages became theologically important and their translation a central issue. This raised major issues concerning the translation of religious matters from one major written language into another of more or less equal literate status; Latin, English or German into Mandarin, Hindi, Arabic and Kanji over which expert bilateral translators
have been at work for centuries.