Translation

Translation begins by local church leaders identifying the need for a new Bible translation and approaching Bible Society. This might be a new translation or a retranslation. Revising and updating Bibles is vital too. Languages change over time, and scholars will have learnt more about translating the text.

Bible Society works with all church denominations. Translation teams of local people are formed and trained. Some will have studied theology, such as the church leader. Others, perhaps the village storyteller, will be experts in language.

Support is given through Translation Consultants and specialist software developed by Bible Society’s world-class linguistic computing experts. Their state-of-the-art technology radically speeds up the translation process. It currently takes around 12 years to translate a Bible, much less than it used to.

Worldwide, Bible Society works on up to 550 translation projects at any one time. These have the potential to impact more than four billion people.