The Editor, Sir:

I don't have a firm opinion on the production of a patois Bible, although I do agree with individuals who state the money can be much better spent, and any potential benefits lay in cultural tourism, sales and a greater cultural identity.

Let's face it though, this has nothing to do with God, spirituality or spreading God's word, because ... H'ef some people caan (can') h'even read h'english h'i don't know 'ow dem goin' be hable fi read di patwah! [Tr: If people can't even read English, I don't know how they will be able to read patois. ('twang' version)]

Core problem

This takes me to my core problem with the endeavour: What standard of the patois language will be used? Which spellings? From what I have experienced, patois is more of a personal language than a national language. Everyone has his or her patois idiolect (version), especially in this age of text messages, instant messages and emails.

It seems the translators will be on an additional mission of standardising our patois while they struggle to produce it from that archaic biblical English. In any event, at the end of it, we may at least be left with a standardised version of our beloved Creole, albeit from Di Patwah Versian (DPV) [tr: The Patois Version] of The Bible.

I am, etc.,

'SENSIBLE JAMAICAN'

sensiblejamaican@

googlemail.com