I have been reading the Book of Mormon in Bislama in hopes that it would teach me the language and give me some proficiency therein.  I do it by having my English Book of Mormon open alongside the Bislama version so that I can refer to it to translate what I’m reading.  I’ve noticed a couple of things as I’ve compared the languages.

For one, I’ve noticed that the Bislama version requires more words than English does to say the same thing.  For instance the sacrament prayers in English for the bread and water are 91 and 78 words long respectively.  In Bislama they are 108 and 93 words long.  (In French they are only 79 and 68 words long.)

The Bislama language only contains something over 5,000 words.  English has many times more than that.  The result is that in English there is a greater variety of words from which to choose and thus express different nuances in meaning that aren’t possible in Bislama.  English has many adjectives and adverbs that Bislama lacks.  For instance, in English we can say that something is pretty, cute, nice, wonderful, beautiful, handsome, or awesome.  Each of these words carries a little different meaning and emphasis.  In Bislama that same thing can only be “nice.”

I don’t expect that there will ever be any great poetry written in the Bislama language.  There just aren’t enough words to choose from.  For that reason the Book of Mormon loses a lot of things when translated into Bislama.

But not always.  I actually prefer the Bislama version of the sacrament prayers where the English version says, “…and always remember him...”  In Bislama it says, “…mo oltaem tingbaot hem…”

“All the time thinking about Him” is a real action phrase.  It denotes real action on our part, whereas always remembering Him is more passive.

The English version says, “…and keep his commandments…”  The Bislama version says, “…mo holem ol komanmen blong hem…” (and hold all of His commandments).

If I had an object—say some marbles—I could either keep them in my pocket or hold them in my hand.  Keeping them in my pocket doesn’t require as much thought and effort as holding them in my hand.  When I’m holding them I’m constantly aware of them, and thinking about them all the time.  This is precisely what the sacrament prayers enjoin us to do with Jesus Christ, His commandments, and His Atonement.

The sacrament prayers in Bislama thus ask us to do more, and to be more actively engaged in the Lord’s Atonement than does the English version.

In the Bislama language there aren’t words to describe things with which they are not familiar—like mangers.  In Vanuatu there are few animals, no cold weather, and, therefore, no need for mangers.  Behold the translation for manger:

English:  “...and laid him in a manger...”

Bislama:  “...mo nao oli putum hem i stap slip long wan bokis we oltaem ol man oli stap putum gras long hem, blong ol anamol oli kakae...”