How were nine translations of My Utmost for His Highest accomplished in only nine years?
Earlier this year, a publishing consultant and I discussed his work with My Utmost for His Highest.
Yohan John Kunnenkeril oversaw Oswald Chamber’s famous devotional into the nine different languages for the Indian subcontinent.
(You can see the list of all the My Utmost for His Highest translations here.)
We’ve corresponded for years, and when I realized he oversaw the translations, I decided to interview him.
Here are my questions and his interesting answers. (Lightly edited).
Who is publishing consultant Yohan John?
Tell me about yourself. How long have you been a Christian?
“Born into a fine Christian family, I have generations of Christianity behind me!
“My great grandfather was a priest in the Anglican order, a fine servant of God. My parents were regular church goers, had daily prayers at home.
“I was a nominal Christian till age 32 when through a meeting with a person who hailed from an orthodox Brahmin background, I yielded my life to the Triune God. This was in 1988. I am 66 now.”
His wife, Nina John, also is actively involved with Bible studies for women, Explorer’s Bible study, and Bible Study Fellowship.
How has My Utmost for His Highest influenced him?
“The two major influences or sources of nurture for my faith in Him, have been
*the person who, though from orthodox Brahmin background, became a follower of Jesus Christ.
*My Utmost For His Highest which I have been reading in English every day for about 25 years!”
Three years after “yielding his life to the Triune God,” Yohan John took a position with the Bible Society of India. The job gave him some exposure to publishing and translation work.
What was his first encounter with My Utmost for His Highest?
“In 1996 I was traveling in the northeastern parts of India with a small team and a lorry [truck] load of Scriptures (Bibles, New Testaments, devotional aids, all in English) for display and sale.
“While arranging a display, I chanced upon a beautiful leather bound copy of My Utmost For His Highest, and kept it aside. A colleague said it is known to be good, bought it, and started reading.”
Yohan John picked it up himself and has been reading it ever since.
“Regular reading of My Utmost for His Highest helped me love Him and His Word increasingly. For about seven years in the Bible society, most of my preaching was based on content in My Utmost for His Highest.”
“I read it first thing in the morning, around 5:15. I spend some time mulling it, often pained while applying it internally.”
He thinks about that day’s reading sporadically during the day, connect the reading to stuff on TV, and chats with his wife and others. He even tries to recollect the reading before he falls asleep.
(We do that at our house, too. “OC” and Biddy frequently come up at dinner. They feel like family after all these years!)
Like me, Yohan John reads it online and switches between the classic and updated version.)
How does a publishing consultant handle translations?
Over the years, Yohan John coordinated translating My Utmost For His Highest into India’s major languages.
(Not dialects, but separate languages with their own individual script and alphabet.
Click on the language to reach the specific translations: English; Hindi, Gujarati, Bengali/Bangla; Marathi; Khasi; Mizo; Malayalam; Telgugu; Kannada; Oriya)
“The first language we did was Hindi, the official language of India. I was based for about 11 years in the Hindi speaking belt (Northern India). I had been preaching by using thoughts from My Utmost.
“My ‘mother tongue’ is not Hindi and so it took me about five sentences to convey the content of one English sentence from My Utmost. Yet, people appreciated the thoughts and that is how the idea came to me to [translate the devotional] into Hindi.”
The Oswald Chambers Publications Association Ltd (OCPAL) in the United Kingdom were interested in the project. My Utmost had not been translated into Hindi before. (It’s been translated over the years into about 50 different languages worldwide. Current versions are listed here.).
The official publisher for languages of India is the India Evangelical Mission.
How does a translator do their job?
After translating the Hindi devotional, they established a procedure:
- Identify the need. Based on demographics, and the number of Christians in a given area, which language could benefit from a translation?
- Get copyright permission from Discovery House Publishing [now called Our Daily Bread Publishing] and OCPAL.
- Arrange funding for the publisher (India Evangelical Mission).
- Choose a translator by gathering a small panel to check their sample translations (using a few pages of the devotional, and other credentials).
- Provide the chosen translator with both Updated and Classic versions in book form, as well as online links, then interact closely over the initial months.
Translating the devotional is done line by line, with printing details (paper, cover design, etc.) organized later in the process.
The covers
In India they use the same cover design for all languages.
“Based on my understanding of what Oswald Chambers is saying in the book, that My Utmost is through our submission (especially of the will) and His highest (there is none higher) demonstrated on the cross.
“Prostration is the physical expression of submission.
“Our cover design has this prostrating figure and the cross for that reason.
“The cross is in the background and sort of hazy, to convey that the person is not prostrating before the cross (as an object or as an idol) but he/she is prostrating while thinking about the cross of Jesus Christ, with gratitude, repentance, love, hope, peace and even joy.
“The picture or cover design also has a drop of blood and an artistic depiction of a dove.
“This design is repeated on every page of the devotional to remind the reader of the attitude with which to read this fine book.”
Consulting an expert and favorite concepts
Between 2007 and 2013, Yohan John worked with noted writer Pastor James Reimann (author of both the updated My Utmost, as well as an updated version of Streams in the Desert).
“I asked him to be ‘on hand’ for advice as I began this [translating] work. He was very helpful.”
Among Yohan John’s favorite concepts from the devotional are:
- “My utmost for God’s highest.” (I discussed this with him myself.)
- Sin is separation from God.
- Do not wrestle with God.
- Redemption is reality.
- Individuality and personality.
“These have given me a fresh and better understanding of matters that I understood wrongly earlier,” he said.
Who can benefit from the devotional?
“For Believers who serve, Bible college students, those in ministry,” he said.
“It may not be appreciated by nominal Christians or even those who want a ” comfortable” read, and the book is not for those do not know much about the Christian faith.”
As for Yohan John, and for me as well, “My Utmost for His Highest has helped me love Him and His Word increasingly.”
Why not try it yourself?
It’s always available in English, at www.utmost.org.
For all editions translated for India, check out Johnten10.com.
For a free download of the entire My Utmost for His Highest devotional in any of the ten India languages, click on this link and scroll down untill you see the book covers in the different languages.
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