Vernacular Media Services
Our Vernacular Media Services personnel work alongside translation teams to help develop culturally appropriate media tools in the “vernacular”—or everyday language—of people groups around the world.
For more than 15 years, we have researched and designed media strategies to share God’s Word with oral societies, which communicate primarily through what can be seen and heard. Today, dozens of trained vernacular media specialists work hand-in-hand with translation teams to:
- Evaluate the communication needs of specific language groups.
- Design appropriate media strategies.
- Create effective, culturally appropriate media tools.
We use a custom blend of “high-tech” and “low-tech” media tools to meet the communication needs of individual language groups. Some of our current media tools include:
- Videos in local languages, such as the JESUS film and the Luke and Genesis videos.
- Audio Scriptures, study materials and music recordings, which are distributed on cassettes, CDs and MegaVoice players.
- Drama and music presentations.
- “Low-tech” tools such as flannelgraphs, puppets and flip charts.
Through these means, the translated Scriptures can be shared with all people in a given language group—regardless of their age, physical health or ability to read. In addition, when people hear media in their own language, it often sparks an interest in literacy and printed Scriptures.
