Not Lost in Translation

Director of Andrew's Foreign Language Translation Team, Zsolt Katona. (Click to enlarge)Zsolt Katona was an English teacher at the prestigious Abbey School at the Pannonhalma Archabbey in Hungary when a cassette tape from America altered the course of his life. One morning in 2002, his wife gave him an Andrew Wommack tape and asked him to listen to it on his thirty-minute drive to work.

Initially, Zsolt didn’t want to listen. “My preconception about American preachers was that they were loud, shouting, and aggressive,” he said. But since it was a long drive, he gave the tape a try. “I was very interested in his teaching, and on the way home, I listened to the tape again."

He was so engrossed in the teaching that after he arrived home, he stayed in his car listening. “My wife came out and asked me, ‘Is there something wrong?’ I said, ‘No, I’m just listening to the guy again. What’s his name?’ She said, ‘Oh, Andrew Wommack.’ So that’s how it started.”

Zsolt serves as Andrew's interpreter and translator when Andrew visits Hungary. (Click to enlarge)One year later, Zsolt, his wife, and their three children moved to England to attend Charis Bible College-U.K. The couple graduated from CBC and moved back to Hungary in 2005. A few months later, Will Graham, head of Andrew Wommack Ministries of Europe (AWME), asked Zsolt to translate Andrew’s books into Hungarian. By the time Andrew made his first visit to Hungary in October 2006, Zsolt had completed the translation of four books. Because of Zsolt’s involvement with the book translation, he was asked to translate for Andrew during the conference. “This was one of my dreams, so I happily said yes,” he explained.

When Andrew returned to Hungary for a conference the following summer, he asked Zsolt to join his ministry. The one condition was a move back to the AWME office. Without hesitation, Zsolt and his growing family returned to England in 2007. Within the year, Zsolt was promoted to head of the translation department.

Zsolt translated for Andrew during a visit to Pannonhalma, Hungary in 2009.
(Click to enlarge)As Zsolt led the department, it became evident that the ministry needed a centrally located European book distribution facility. As they compared locations Zsolt discovered that printing in Hungary was considerably cheaper than in England. Once AWME began printing and shipping from Hungary, it was a logical step for Zsolt and his family—now consisting of five children—to move back to Hungary.

Zsolt opened AWME-Hungary in a small house, which is now stacked floor to ceiling with thousands of books in multiple languages, awaiting distribution throughout Europe. “I am still coordinating translation from there,” he said. “But I have also started working on the Hungarian ministry—building contacts with pastors, bookshops and churches, and building relationship with them.”

Zsolt shows Andrew, and several AWM staff, a new book translation. (Click to enlarge)As a part of expanding AWM in Hungary, Zsolt wanted to begin a television ministry, but he didn't know where to start. In 2008 God provided the answer: “I met a man named Joseph at a meeting,” Zsolt explained. “When he heard our ideas about television broadcasting in Hungary, he handed over a business card. It said Charis TV. And I said to myself, ‘Charis Bible College…Charis TV. This is not a mistake.’”

Joseph and his son were running several television programs in Hungary. “He was able to arrange it so there was no charge for airtime,” said Zsolt. Andrew’s teachings are now broadcast in Hungarian on PAX TV every Friday and Sunday, free of charge.

Amazing things have happened since they started broadcasting Andrew’s messages in Hungarian, but Zsolt has a favorite moment: “For me, the greatest was when a Hungarian lady living in Romania sent us a text message,” he said. “She was going to commit suicide, but she saw Andrew’s program on PAX TV, and it changed her life. We started sending her books, and I am so thankful that this program saved somebody’s life.”

In the years since Zsolt’s wife gave him the cassette tape, his life has changed dramatically. He's gone through a transition from English teacher to Bible college student, to book translator, to become the head of AWM's Foreign Language Translation Team, all in the name of advancing the Gospel and AWM in the harvest-ready fields of Hungary.

Condensed from the article It's the Fruit that Counts, found in the Spring & Summer 2010 edition of Andrew's Gospel Truth magazine.

Andrew's Foreign Language Translation Team

Will Graham, Director of Andrew Wommack Ministries of Europe (Click to enlarge)As Andrew shares the truth of the Gospel with the body of Christ around the world, his message continues to penetrate receptive hearts. Because of Andrew's growing visibility and influence, AWM consistently receives requests for Andrew’s books to be translated into an increasing number of foreign languages.

AWM relies on Will Graham, Director of Andrew Wommack Ministries of Europe (AWME) to manage this ongoing translation project. Soon after joining the ministry in 2005, Will recognized the need to translate Andrew's materials into foreign languages. Initially, Will turned to Charis Bible College (CBC) students in England, and friends of the Ministry in several European countries, to translate Andrew's work.

Spirit, Soul & Body, a foundational teaching of Andrew's ministry, is seen here translated in Hungarian.
(Click to enlarge)Will quickly found that there was much more to the translation process than one set of translator's eyes could be trusted to accomplish accurately. To spread the responsibility of accuracy Will began to build a team of translators, proofreaders and editors in each country. These individuals, mostly volunteers, had to be familiar with the structure of the native language, and equally as important, they had to know Andrew's ministry and teachings very well.

As languages from a number of nations across Europe were translated, it became evident to Will that he needed to bring in another person to oversee the growing project—one who understood the process. Will brought in Zsolt Katona. Zsolt, a native Hungarian and CBC England graduate, now serves AWME as the Head of European Language Translation and as the head of Andrew's Central European
Distribution Centre.

Will and several AWME Translation Team supervising editors meet to discuss future projects. (Click to enlarge)Over the past four years, as the translation team has grown, Will and Zsolt have fine tuned the process by which the team operates. Part of that process includes carefully screening
each would-be translator. Each new person is tested for accuracy before being accepted.

"We give out only one chapter as a test translation before we entrust anyone with a whole book," Zsolt said.

Zsolt stressed the point that the sample translation must be an accurate representation of Andrew's original work. He also noted that there is a difference between translating and interpreting. In Zsolt's view this is a matter of ethics:

Hungarian translation of Andrew's book The True Nature of God."To my way of thinking, a translator hardly has any freedom whatsoever, and should be as faithful as possible to the original, with the understanding that if the author has chosen a particular vocabulary in the original, and this actually exists in the language to be translated into, the translator shouldn’t change the vocabulary just because he/she feels it sounds better [than the original]," explained Zsolt.

Accuracy must be maintained throughout each step as the translation progresses from the hands of the translator, through the editor. As one might imagine, this is a time consuming process. Because many of the people participating are doing so on a part-time volunteer basis, the average book translation takes between four and six months
to complete.

The Chinese translation of The New You and The Holy Spirit.Once a person passes the testing and becomes part of the translation team, he or she always begins with the same books, The New You & The Holy Spirit, followed by Spirit, Soul & Body—a foundational teaching of Andrew's ministry. After these two are completed the next book is determined by consultation between translation team supervisors and friends of the Ministry in that particular country.

The Translation Team, with representatives from approximately 20 countries, meets annually to organize and schedule projects for the coming year. In August of 2009 the team met in Hungary. While traditional book and e-book translations were discussed, the team also began to explore translation opportunities for voice-over and sub-titling projects. These translations will broaden the availability of Andrew's DVD teachings and provide more local TV programming opportunities. It is also a team priority to make sure that there are materials available for the destinations Andrew will visit during the upcoming year. As a result of this team's efforts, when Andrew speaks in a foreign country, he is able to leave behind materials in the local languages.

From very small beginnings, to more than 30 languages being translated currently, each book is a seed planted for a multiplied harvest to come.

Recently, Will Graham, director for Andrew Wommack Ministries Europe, met with his translation team supervisors. Catch a glimpse in the video below as they organize the upcoming project schedule. Be sure to follow the link at the end of this clip for a full video summary of Andrew's recent trip to Europe.

Andrew's Central European Distribution Center

AWM's Hungarian office and Central European Distribution Center. (Click to enlarge)Hungary, a former satellite of the Soviet Empire, is now the host of a busy distribution point for Andrew Wommack Ministries of Europe (AWME). A modest house in one of the greenbelt villages of the town of Győr serves as both the Hungarian office for AWME and as the Central European Distribution Center, from which Andrew's teaching materials are shipped to the 27 nations of the European community. The facility is managed by native Hungarian and CBC England graduate, Zsolt Katona.

AWM's Head of European Translation and of the Central European Distribution Center, Zolt Katona and his family live in Hungary.When Zsolt became an AWME employee in 2006, the ministry had just begun publishing Andrew's books in various European languages. Now, in 2010, Zsolt manages tens of thousands of copies of Andrew's translated materials. As a result, the house is crowded with shelves full of spiritual seeds just waiting to be shipped to thirsty souls. Zsolt does his best to utilize every inch of the office efficiently, but that job is becoming increasingly challenging.

With a steady stream of translations being completed, storage space at the distribution center is tightly packed. (Click to enlarge)Presently, Andrew's books are being shipped across Europe in 11 languages, but that number continues to increase as AWME's Foreign Language Translation Team works diligently to make the books available to more people in more countries. Several of Andrew's books are currently going through the translation process for eight additional European languages. The translation process takes time—four to six months on average. Worldwide the team of countless volunteers has translated 127 of Andrew's books in 36 languages.

At this time, Zsolt distributes his largest orders to Holland and Germany. Smaller countries like Hungary tend to order less per shipment. But the important part is that the orders continue to come in on a steady basis.

Currently Zsolt is the only full-time employee for the distribution center, but as Andrew's message continues to spread across languages, the job will eventually become too large for him to manage singlehandedly.

So, as the saying goes, "never despise small beginnings." Each book shipped from this little house in Hungary is a seed planted for a multiplied harvest
to come.

Watch as Andrew tours the Hungarian office and reminisces about the Ministry's humble beginnings. Be sure to follow the link at the end of this clip for a full video summary of Andrew's recent trip to Europe.

Catch a glimpse in the video below as they organize the upcoming project schedule. Be sure to follow the link at the end of this clip for a full video summary of