Bible Translation Speeds Up – Work Continues on Last Languages - July 7, 2010

When God confused the language of the world at Babel, he was tremendously successful.  There are currently 6950 spoken languages in the world.  According to Bible translators, about a third still do not have even a portion of the Bible, but work is proceeding at an ever increasing rate.

Wycliffe Bible Translators, the world’s largest scripture translation ministry, estimates that every spoken language in the world may have a part of the Bible available within 15 years. Because of advances in Bible translation, translation into the remaining 2200 languages used by some 350 million people is possible by 2025.

Paul Edwards, executive director of Wycliffe’s Last Languages Campaign, told the Christian Post that there are a number of factors contributing to the rapid speed of Bible translation.  Just a decade ago, Bible translators predicted it would take eight generations, some 140 to 150 years, before the last translation would be started.  In 1999 Wycliffe was averaging 20 new translations a year and there were 3000 languages left.  Last year alone, Wycliffe had 109 new translation starts.

New technology and new approaches to translation are the reasons for the increase.  For example, computer software allows translators to accurately predict the rest of a paragraph after entering just a few phonetic words.  As well, a translator using a satellite laptop can instantly check his translation by connecting with a master translator half a world away.  Not long ago, the translator would have had to travel for hours by boat and truck then fly 20 to 50 hours one way to get it checked. As Edwards said “It is an extraordinary compression of time.”

Translators have also made significant changes in how they work.  In the past, one team would work on one language for a lifetime.  While that is still necessary for some languages, now some teams translate groups or clusters of similar languages at the same time. Many teams are working on 5 to 12 similar languages at the once.  When one language group receives a Gospel story, so do all similar language groups.

A major change has seen an indigenous person replace a Western missionary as the frontline translator.  This has meant that instead of the traditional chronological translation of the Bible, translations often begin with New Testament stories that can be shared by oral story tellers in villages.

According to Edwards “Our hope and desire as we look at 2010-2011 is that North American churches can wake up to and choose to engage in this thrilling, final lap.  Can you name another 2,000-year-long continuous movement that is going to have its closing in our lifetime?”

“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” (Matthew 24:14)

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