The Greek that is translated in English as “mustard seed” is translated in Muna as “wonolita seed.” René van den Berg explains: “The mustard plant rarely exceeds 50 cm in height. A wonolita is a big forest tree growing from a tiny seed.”
In the Bislama and Uripiv translations it is translated as “banyan.” “The banyan tree is one of the biggest in the islands, and it grows from a tiny seed. We (Uripiv) added a footnote to explain to more advanced readers what we had done: ‘Here Matthew compares the kingdom of God to a mustard seed, but since mustard doesn’t grow here, we put banyan, so that Matthew’s meaning will be clear.’” (Source: Ross McKerras)
In Elhomwe it is translated as “tree seed” (source: project-specific translation notes in Paratext) and in Yakut as “larch seed,” a small seed which does indeed grow into a large tree” (source: David Clark in The Bible Translator 2015, p. 117ff. ),
In Gbaya is is translated with the ideophone kɛ̧́ɛ̧́ which “denotes a very tiny and barely visible object. (…) The Gbaya team applied it to faith instead of referring to a mustard seed which is unknown to Gbaya readers.” Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)
The Rennellese translation uses one specific term — haka tihitihi — in Luke 10:31 that encompasses the meaning of “to avoid and pass by on the other side of the road.” This was a particularly fitting translation because it “has a strong negative component. The example people gave was ‘moving to the other side of the road if a child has defecated on the road.’” (Source: David Clark and Nico Daams)
In Babatana, the phrase in Exodus 16:34 that is translated into English as “before” or “in front of the Covenant Box” must be translated with a phrase that means “on the ground in front of the Covenant Box” or else it would mean “on the front of the Box.”
In Kuy the term the woman uses for what is translated in English as “sir” implies that she was older than Jesus (see verse 4:11), and the term Jesus uses for what is translated in English as “woman” in verse 4:21 reflects this, as he addresses her as “younger aunt.”
In the translation into Kahua, it needs to be specified whose voice is mentioned in Acts 10:13 and 15. Many commentaries assume it is God’s voice but it could also be the angel mentioned in verse 3, since God is referred to in the third person in verse 15. The translators decided for God’s voice.
