In general we regard translation as more or less a single act, without recognizing that a translation. especially one of the Bible, is usually the result of a number of years' work, during which time not only the translator or translators, but also the people for whom the translation is being prepared, have contributed extensively to the form of the translation as the result of their own experiences. Moreover, particularly in the case of the Bible, translating is rarely regarded as complete for all time, for any document designed to serve the continuing needs of a living community must be constantly revised.

Accordingly, the language of one translation inevitably affects the usage of a revision, as the wording of the first interacts in the experience of the receptors.

The adjustment of language to experience is readily recognized when new cultural events take place within a society. Among the Tzeltals in southern Mexico, the coming of missionaries and the initial presentation of the Christian message resulted in the conversion of many hundreds of persons, who responded, in their eagerness to describe their spiritual experiences, by creating many new phrases. Thus they used such expressions as "to turn one's heart toward God" ("to trust God"), and "to be sad before God" ("to feel convicted of sin"). The use here of the productive element ta stojol Dios, meaning "at. in, of, toward God", constituted an important adjustment of language to experience. All the words used in these phrases had existed in the language, but the new combinations and specialization of their use in these phrases constituted an adjustment of language to the experience of the people.

At the same time, the Tzeltal people were undergoing certain adjustments of experience to new elements of language, for the introduction of such Spanish terms as templo "temple", minister "ministro", anciano "elder", and diacono "deacon" , and the accompanying features of Protestant worship and organizations, served to provide a basis for adjustment of experience to language.

The interplay between language and experience in any evolving language-culture situation largely determines the direction and nature of any revision. In fact, it is almost impossible to speak of a completely "new translation" of any culturally important document, for if the earlier renderings have had any effect upon the experience of the people, it is inevitable that many of the most important lexical usages will be already determined in advance. Furthermore, the very demand for a revision is in itself evidence of an important interaction between the language of the document in question and the response of the receptors. One cannot be divorced from the other.

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