Apr-Jul: I'll be in the South Pacific.
Wrapping up the Post-Courier piece
I’d written most of the aviation article before it hit me: “That’s ‘aeroplane,’ not ‘airplane,’ you dufus!”
“Or … is that only British, not Australian?”
I walked around the corner to ask Martha; then I changed all occurrences to “aeroplane.” “Programme” was another close call in that story, but I did get “tonnes” right the first time. I took out “licences” because I didn’t really need it, and I wasn’t even tempted by “manoeuvre” or “inflexion.” (Want to see more Aussie spellings?)
For the duration of this Post-Courier project, I’ve kept my spellcheck on Australian English. But for some reason, it doesn’t catch things like “realize” or “program” — spellings about which some people have strong feelings. I took to searching my documents for any occurences of the letter “z” and troublesome combinations like “er.”
But now the last bit of copy is emailed off to Carle, and we have only to wait for the draft from the layout man, who happens to be in school in Australia. Thank the Lord for email, but physical proximity would be nice sometimes.
We should get the project finished up in the next day or two, and then the designer will mail a disc from Australia to Port Moresby so the Post-Courier can drop in ads and make any adjustments needed for printing. They say they aren’t sure if they can work with InDesign, but that’s the format they are getting. A point for prayer, if you think of it.
The insert is designed to help Papua New Guineans understand what we do in this country. The stories we’ve written emphasize Bible translation, education, partnerships, friendships, and our vision for the future. Some of the stories explain how we get our work done, like the one on aeroplanes. (Er, airplanes.)
Writing the copy was a challenge. Aussie spelling was the least of my worries in some ways. I needed to write in a way that would make sense to people who speak English as a second or third (or fourth…) language. Some Papua New Guineans are fluent; others might be stymied by overly complex sentence structures, unusual words, or conflicts between English and Tok Pisin syntax and vocabulary.
I don’t know whether I was successful.
But, it’s coming out whether I did my job well or not. Even now, I’ve scribbled a few panicked questions that must be addressed before it’s sent away. I think I’ll be glad when it’s out of my hands.
I talked with UK-June on the phone today. Her voice sounded better, and she says she’s slowly getting over jet lag. By the time she’s up and going, the Post-Courier project will be out the door, and I’ll be ready to turn my energies fully to external publicity projects.
And believe me, I’m writing that stuff in American English!
categories papua new guinea
Comment from Corey Adams
Time: March 27, 2006, 6:55 pm
David looks like you are having fun over there. Hope you are feeling better there, mate. How are the aeroplanes doing there? Hopefully your colour is doing better, not as pale. Is the centre well also. Well make sure when you are sick that you are close to the loo. Keep in touch.