theTrumpet.com Translated
Speakers of German, Dutch, French and Spanish can now read theTrumpet.com in their own languages, thanks to the efforts of volunteer translators who are members of the Philadelphia Church of God.
TheTrumpet.com launched on Feb. 15, 2016, in German (diePosaune.de); on November 18 in French (laTrompette.fr) and Dutch (theTrumpet.nl); and on November 30 in Spanish (laTrompeta.es). The new sites include regularly updated articles, an archive, literature library and translations of Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry’s Key of David television program. The department also opened associated accounts on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and YouTube, which are accessible on the homepage of each site.
The Church, which publishes the Trumpet and theTrumpet.com, includes a translations department staffed almost entirely by Church member volunteers. Working remotely from Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, France, Germany, Guatemala, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, South Africa, Suriname and the United Kingdom, about 50 volunteers, dozens of whom have been serving for years, have produced about 30 videos, more than 250 combined pieces of literature and more than 60 lessons of the Herbert W. Armstrong College Bible Correspondence Course for the four websites.
The German version of theTrumpet.com features a newly translated article each week; a literature library containing 50 quarterly editions of the Philadelphia Trumpet newsmagazine; 27 books, booklets and reprints; and 17 Key of David and diePosaune.de videos. The literature is translated and edited by Austrian, Canadian, German and UK members Hans Schmidl, Emanuel Maximoff, Annette Ommen, Peter de Lauw and Herta Geisler. The videos are voiced over by Maximoff. The site was developed and launched by Netherlands member Aart van Halteren.
The French-language website features an archive of four years’ worth of articles. LaTrompette.fr includes several videos translated from the English site by Canadian members Pierre Vernier and Tony Chiasson and recorded by Belgian member Paul Fontinoy, such as “Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg en 90 Secondes” (“Who is Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg? In 90 Seconds”) and a Key of David program titled “Pourquoi vous devez surveiller Jérusalem” (“Why You Must Watch Jerusalem”).
The Dutch-language website features regularly updated news and commentary and similar videos dubbed over with Dutch subtitles translated by Van Halteren’s wife, Irene, and assisted in editing by Netherlands member Egbert Raedt van Oldenbarnevelt. It also includes a literature library of more than 40 books, booklets and reprints.
The translations department plans to post new content every business day, including articles, Key of David programs, transcripts, chapters from books and booklets, and full books and booklets as they are completed. The department also hopes to produce occasional Dutch-, French- and German-specific news written exclusively for theTrumpet.nl, laTrompette.fr and diePosaune.de.
The Spanish-language website offers 48 literature titles, translated over the years by numerous volunteers. It also includes a handful of videos and 91 back issues of La Trompeta newsmagazine. LaTrompeta.es manager Deryle Hope said the site is scheduled to be updated with fresh articles two to three times per week and with a new Key of David every week, translated and voiced over by Spanish department head Carlos Heyer.
Foreign language translations manager Edwin Trebels said the department can now respond to world events much faster than before, posting articles within a day, rather than within one month (with the Spanish print edition of the Trumpet) or within three months (with the German, French and Italian editions). Readers no longer have to wait as long for good analysis on world events, he said.
With websites and much of the literature library in place, the department aims to increase its content and its offline and online readership in 2017. Department head Brad Macdonald and Trebels are exploring an effective digital marketing strategy for bringing the pcg’s message to exponentially more people.
“The websites are still young and continue to be fine-tuned,” Macdonald said. “But we are doing our best with the resources at our disposal to support Mr. Flurry as he fulfills the full scope of the pcg’s Revelation 10:11 commission.”
The department also translates into Italian, Portuguese, Finnish, Norwegian, Afrikaans and Hebrew. An Italian-language site (laTromba.org) is planned for the coming months.