Katharine Barnwell

Katharine Barnwell (9 August 1938 – 29 September 2025) was a British missionary who worked in Nigeria as a Bible translator. She established methods of training local people to translate into their own languages, and authored an influential book on Bible translation principles considered the "gold standard" manual for training translators. She has been called "one of the most influential missionaries that ever lived." She was a child during the Blitz, and later during the war and after lived in a variety of places in England.

Missionary and translation work After finishing Wycliffe linguistic training, Barnwell went to Nigeria in 1964 and began learning the Mbembe language. She was cut off from communication with the outside world by the Nigerian Civil War and walked from the conflict area into Cameroon.

In the mid 1970s, when almost all other expatriate linguists were required to leave Nigeria, she began training locals to translate into their own languages. She produced the first version of her book, Bible Translation: An Introductory Course in Translation Principles. This book states three principles of translation: A translation must be clear, accurate and natural. This book and her training methods have been used in many places besides Nigeria to train new translators.

Publications

This has been translated into other languages, including Portuguese: Tradução Bíblica, translated by Mary Daniel, 2007.