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Translation is the process of communicating a message into a language that is different from the one in which the message was originally written. The message may be in a song, a poem, a story, directions, a telephone message, or a sermon. But if a person is not able to understand that message because it is written or told in an unfamiliar language, the message must be translated. This is especially important when it is the message of the Bible that is to be communicated.
| Bible Facts | |
| Number of languages in the world | 6,909 |
| Number of languages without any portion of Bible | 2,393 |
| Number of translations currently in progress | 1,998 |
| Number of languages which have no access to the New Testament | 1,168 |
| Number of languages which have access to the entire Bible | 438 |
HISTORY
The Bible is made up of several individual books that were written and told long ago in various languages quite unfamiliar to us today. None of these books was originally written in English (or Spanish or most other languages used throughout the world today). They were written in ancient Hebrew and Aramaic (for the Old Testament or Hebrew Scriptures) and in Greek (for the New Testament). Without Bible translation, people today would have to learn these three languages in order to read and understand the words of the Bible!
The work of translating the Bible began around 250 B.C. when a group of Jewish scholars translated the Old Testament (Hebrew Scriptures) into Greek because many Jewish people were living in places where Greek was the everyday language. Since that first Bible translation, the words of both the Old Testament (Hebrew Scriptures) and the New Testament have been translated into hundreds of languages. These languages include ancient languages (like Coptic, Arabic, Latin, and Syriac), as well as more recent, modern languages (like Portuguese, Russian, Navajo, Danish, Spanish, and English). The purpose behind all these Bible translations is exactly the same: to put the words of the Bible into a language that people will understand.
One of the most important Bible translators was the Englishman William Tyndale (1484-1536), often called "The Father of the English Bible." Tyndale wanted to make the Scriptures understandable to all people. But due to the political and religious tensions that existed throughout Europe during the Reformation (14th-17th centuries), he was unable to get permission to do his translation in England. So he went to Germany, where he published his New Testament in February 1526. Though he experienced a great deal of opposition, he continued his work of translating the Old Testament from Hebrew, and he published the first five books of the Old Testament (Genesis through Deuteronomy) in 1530.
Tyndale's work and influence is most readily seen in what is surely the most significant English Bible translation ever done, the King James Version of the Bible, published in 1611. The King James Version (also called the Authorized Version) was prepared at the request of King James I of England at a time when several Church-sponsored versions of the English Bible were in use. Although there was resistance to the King James Version at first (since many people felt a loyalty to their own Church's translation), it eventually won wide acceptance and became the standard English version of the Bible in the English-speaking world for three centuries. It remains one of the most widely-used English translations of the Bible today.
TODAY'S NEED FOR BIBLE TRANSLATION WORK
The Bible continues to be the most translated book in the world. The following numbers are approximations. As of 2005, at least one book of the Bible has been translated into 2,400 of the 6,900 languages listed by Wycliffe Bible Translators, including 680 languages in Africa, followed by 590 in Asia, 420 in Oceania, 420 in Latin America and the Caribbean, 210 in Europe, and 75 in North America. Recent statistics indicate that work is presently being implemented in over 600 Bible translation projects. Yet, the real challenge is that only 438 languages have the entire Bible translated and 1,168 have the New Testament.
DIFFERENCES IN BIBLE TRANSLATIONS
As Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic, the original languages of the Bible, have idioms and concepts not easily translated, there is an on going critical tension about whether it is better to give a word for word translation or to give a translation that gives a parallel idiom in the target language. For instance, in the English language Catholic translation, the New American Bible, as well as the Protestant translations of the Christian Bible, translations like the King James Version, the New Revised Standard Version, and the New American Standard Bible are seen as fairly literal translations (or "word for word"), whereas translations like the New International Version and New Living Translation attempt to give relevant parallel idioms. The Living Bible and The Message are two paraphrases of the Bible that try to convey the original meaning in contemporary language. The further away one gets from word for word translation, the text becomes easier to read while relying more on the theological, linguistic or cultural understanding of the translator, which one would not normally expect a lay reader to require.
A variety of linguistic, philological and ideological approaches to translation have been used, including:
- Literal translation
- Dynamic equivalence translation
- Formal equivalence translation (similar to literal translation)
- Idiomatic or Paraphrastic translation
A great deal of debate occurs over which approach most accurately communicates the message of the biblical languages' source texts into target languages. Despite these debates, however, many who study the Bible intellectually or devotionally find that selecting more than one translation approach is useful in interpreting and applying what they read. For example, a very literal translation may be useful for individual word or topical study, while a paraphrase may be employed for grasping initial meaning of a passage. In addition to linguistic concerns, theological issues also drive Bible translations.
TARGETING AND IDENTIFYING LANGUAGE GROUPS
Extensive research is required to determine specific target languages for the Center's translation projects. Each potential language group must be thoroughly investigated with questions such as:
- Are there existing Scriptures in that language and do they communicate clearly and effectively?
- How many people speak the language?
- Are there mother-tongue speakers of the language available with the skills necessary for translation work?
- Is a translation needed to support planned or existing evangelism?
Mission agencies and organizations, field missionaries and various publications prove extremely helpful in finding answers to these and other questions.
Above all, leaders of EPIC International believe in prayer, and that, in His timing, our All-Powerful Lord will open opportunities when and how He desires. With this confidence, EPIC views the world and the opportunities that exist to lay the Word before the eyes of its billions.
BIBLE PUBLISHING
EPIC operates a multi-functional, multi-press publishing ministry in Southern India that is committed to publishing and printing the Scriptures in the languages of the unengaged and unreached peoples. While this is not the only printing center used by EPIC to provide Bibles and Scripture portions in Asia and Africa, it is where the majority of our printing is done.
Current Bible Translation and Publishing Projects
- Thado Kuki Bible - India
- Boro New Testament - India
- Bengali Muslim New Testament - Bangladesh
- Behdini Kurd New Testament - Iraq
- Cyrillic Kurmanji New Testament - Armenia
