BYU students now have the opportunity to help with the translation of print materials for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through a new service program, Vineyard.
This program was created by the Church to utilize the talents of Church members for a variety of jobs including translation work and photography.
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“[Vineyard is] a program by the Church to take all the talents that the Church members have and use them for the benefit of the Church,” said Will West, a program director for Vineyard. “Why not instead have the members who already have those skills apply them, and for us where better than BYU, where everyone is learning those skills.”
Janine Green, operations supervisor at the Center for Service and Learning, agreed the Vineyard program and BYU are a perfect fit.
“Number one reason is that students at BYU want to serve,” Green said. “Number two reason is where else could you go to find such diverse language talent other than here?”
West said the Vineyard is under the direction of the First Presidency of the Church. It needs help on everything from family history to building Church apps or donating photos.
BYU students will begin by focusing on the translation needs of the Vineyard projects.Volunteers will meet weekly to help each other with translation. They can serve for 30 minutes to an hour during the scheduled meeting time or contribute online.
“It’s all online so students can do it in their homes as easily as they can do it anywhere,” West said.
Meeting weekly will allow students to get to know and help each other with translation difficulties.
“We translate but we’re not the last people that see it; it goes through some professionals,” said Rachelle Winkel, a program director from Brighton, Colo.
The group’s first main focus is translating the Teaching of the Living Prophets manual and a family history website.
“There [is] always more to translate,” Winkel said. “The service just keeps going.”
Any student who knows a foreign language and wants to help with translation is welcome. There are more than 30 languages the Church needs materials translated into.
“If every student that knew Russian at BYU spent an hour total over the next two months, we could get it done,” West said.
For more information about the service opportunities through the Vineyard program, email the program directors at .
