January 20, 2024

From January 15 to 20, the Institute for Bible Translation held a practical seminar on oral Bible translation  (OBT) in Makhachkala.

Translators and exegetical advisers from the Tsudakhar, Godoberi, Chamalal andl Karata projects participated in this event. All four of these non-written languages belong to the Nakh-Dagestani language family. The oral nature of the use of these languages by their speakers determined the choice of the oral Bible translation methodology for them.

The workshop started with an introduction to the methodology of the translation process, providing the participants with a solid foundation for their practical exercises. The practical segment of the workshop focused on the 1st chapter of the book of Ruth, allowing the participants to apply the newly acquired knowledge and skills to a specific biblical text...

January 17, 2024

IBT released two editions in the Abkhaz language: the Book of the Jonah and "Gospel Parables".

The Abkhaz are the indigenous population of Abkhazia (122 2000 people, census 2011). According to the 2020 census 8,177 Abkhaz live in Russia. The Abkhaz language belongs to the Abkhaz-Adyg language family.

The book of Jonah has profound symbolic meaning. This short dramatic story of an Old Testament prophet who spent three days inside a large fish relates essential truths about human existence before God. This story applies equally to the prophet Jonah, individually to every human being, and collectively to the entire human race, and it raises such important issues as disobedience to God, repentance, and God's mercy...

October 2020

IBT has published a special English-language book dedicated to its silver anniversary of being a fullfledged Russian organization. The present volume is a compilation of IBT newsletters dealing with our various Bible translation projects, written by IBT staff member Tanya Prokhorova over the course of the past decade based on her interviews with project workers. The golden thread that runs through all of these newsletters is Tanya’s focus on the human face of IBT. It is not only about producing a good translation of the Bible into many languages (although this is undoubtedly a key part of the process), but about serving people – many people, different people, from a large variety of backgrounds, who happen to speak many different languages. In other words, the final goal of our work is human-centric, not book-centric. And this translation work is not only done for people, but by people – once again, many people, different people, from a large variety of backgrounds.