The Institute of Bible Translation continues to publish Scripture portions from the Old Testament in the Avar language. The Avars are the largest ethnic group in Dagestan, and also live in eastern Georgia and northern Azerbaijan. In Russia there are more than 900,000 Avars, acc. to the 2010 census. Most speak the Avar language, which belongs to the Nakh-Dagestanian group of the North Caucasus language family, as their mother-tongue.
The translation of the four books of Kingdoms (or 1-2 Samuel and 1-2 Kings in the English tradition) was carried out by an IBT team that included experts in the Avar language as well as biblical scholars who checked the accuracy of the translation against the Hebrew original. The publication underwent scholarly review and was published with the stamp of approval of the Tsadasa Institute of Language, Literature and Art in Dagestan. Other Scripture portions translated into Avar by IBT include the Proverbs of Solomon (2005, 2007); the New Testament (2008); Genesis (2011); and Ruth, Esther and Jonah (2017).
At translation workshops, many translation teams gather together to work on a practical task and exchange their experience with their instructors and with one another. The entire process resembles a massive brainstorm session. The intensity of the work gives birth to new translation decisions and sometimes even to completely new approaches to translation.
