Songs in Our Language
Songs and music play an important part in the lives of the Congolese people. Christian songwriters have used the Bible for inspiration, writing songs in French, Lingala, or Kikongo. When the Munukutuba New Testament translation project started, a few people felt the need to sing in Munukutuba and translated some French songs, keeping the western melodies.
When Wycliffe member Jim Fultz joined the translation team as a consultant, he encouraged team members to compose their own songs. In fact, he composed three Scripture songs in Munukutuba himself, to show that it could be done! This stimulated others to compose music, and there is now a special Munukutuba songbook, containing 24 songs and growing, all based on Scripture.
Andre, one of the Munukutuba translators, said, 'These songs are a great source of joy to us, and help us to forget our other preoccupations as we tackle the day's translation work. We sometimes pause during the translation sessions to sing one of the songs, especially if it relates to the passage we are studying. When we meet together for prayer with our brothers and sisters who work for the Congolese Bible Society, we also use our Munukutuba Scripture songbook, and we now introduce Munukutuba songs into workshops and training seminars. We would like to make these songbooks available to churches and other Christian groups. We are happy that the Lord gives us the opportunity every day to praise and worship him with Munukutuba songs.'
我們語言的詩歌
歌曲和音樂在剛果人的生活中是個重要部分。基督徒作曲家從聖經獲取靈感，以法語、林加拉語（Lingala），或剛果語（Kikongo）創作詩歌。曼枯圖巴語（Munukutuba）新約聖經翻譯項目開始時，有幾個人想唱用曼枯圖巴語的詩歌，於是翻譯了一些法國歌曲，惟保留了西方的旋律。
威克理夫會員富爾茨（Jim Fultz）以顧問身份加入譯經團隊時，鼓勵團隊成員創作自己的詩歌。事實上，他為了證明這是行得通的，自己也寫了三首曼枯圖巴語的詩歌！此舉啟發了其他人也來創作，現在，他們已有一本特別的曼枯圖巴語詩歌集，內有二十四首歌曲，全都根據經文而寫，數目仍在增長呢。
曼枯圖巴語其中一名譯經員安德烈（Andre）說：「這些詩歌幫助我們忘卻煩惱，為一天的翻譯工作做好準備，是我們喜樂的極大源頭。有時，我們會放下手上的翻譯工作休息片刻，唱一首這些詩歌，尤其是那些跟我們正在研讀的經文有關的。當我們與剛果聖經公會的弟兄姊妹相聚祈禱時，也會使用這本曼枯圖巴語經文的詩歌集，甚至建議在工作坊和培訓講座中使用它。希望教會和其他基督教團體都使用它。神給我們機會每天用曼枯圖巴語詩歌讚美和敬拜祂，真叫我們喜悅。」