Efforts to translate the Bible into an Aboriginal dialect on Groote Eylandt are resulting in unknown sounds finally making it to the printed page.

The Anindiyakwa language is the native tongue of Aboriginal Australians inhabiting Groote Eylandt in the Gulf of Carpentaria, and is only spoken by some 1500 people.

Three decades of CMS work printing a Bible in Anindiyakwa is finally coming to fruition.

Sydney-supported missionary Julie Waddy says the language has always posed particular problems for translators.

"People have been discouraged about writing in their own language because they are never sure how to write the vowels," she says.

"There is confusion between ‘a’ and ‘e’ and between ‘i’ and ‘u’. So we need to work out where we draw the boundary."

But continuing Bible translation work is now breaking the language open for all users.

Women charged with translating Biblical texts have succeeded in a creating a home-grown grammar.

"With God’s help we have been working out some simple rules which should make
spelling easier," Ms Waddy says.

The challenge will now be to explain those rules to each other in Anindilyakwa.

Ms Waddy has been translating Bible books and developing literacy in the island community for 28 years.

She says the isolation of the errant sounds is a significant milestone for Groote Eylandters and the Gospel.