The Surprising Complexity of Bible Translation

Written by Glen Moore & Bethany Moore

STATEMENT

Christ commanded us to make disciples of all peoples and teach them to obey all that he commanded. Therefore, the goal of Bible translation should be for every person to have access to a Bible in a language they understand in order to establish mature disciples and churches to fulfill this commission. The desire of any church to have the whole Bible in its language, dialect, or form to better facilitate the life of the church should be encouraged whenever possible. For various complex reasons, a complete Bible translation isn’t always possible or necessary for every language.

Bible translations should be accurate, clear, natural, and acceptable, using a translation process that consults the original biblical languages and adheres to the meaning of the original text. They should be done hand-in-hand with the work of planting and edifying local churches. While new advances in methods and technology offer significant help for Bible translation projects, Bible translation remains a complex task, requiring a high investment of time, finances, training, and expertise. History shows that the endeavor of Bible translation requires great sacrifices and is of incalculable value.

The Bold Ten

When we first began gospel work among Bibleless people in South Asia, we were introduced to ten individuals described by our coworkers as “the boldest evangelists in the country.” Our plan was to help them develop and use Bible stories in their national language for gospel ministry among their people group who did not yet have the New Testament in their own language. Since foreigners were not able to freely visit their homeland, these brothers and sisters would travel to meet us for discipleship training before returning home to preach.

As we came to know these believers and hear their stories, two things surprised us. First, we were amazed at their boldness. All of them had suffered for their witness: as a group they had experienced incarceration, harassment, beatings, loss of income, loss of family relationships, and government sanctions. Yet they continued to share widely about Christ.

But we were even more surprised to find that for all their boldness, they were not preaching the gospel! They had been boldly proclaiming things like: “Jesus is more powerful than all other ‘gods’,” “Jesus can heal you,” and “Jesus can protect you from evil spirits.” We eventually came to understand that their teaching left out the good news of Christ’s atoning sacrifice for one simple reason: they had not understood the centrality of the gospel in the biblical narrative—because they didn’t have a Bible!

While we affirm that people can be saved and even churches planted without a full Bible, if we want to cultivate mature Christians and plant healthy churches, then they need the Word of God in a language people can understand. Therefore, Bible translation is a worthwhile and necessary investment for the Great Commission-minded church. However, in more than twenty years of pursuing Bible translation, I have often found that the church is not well-equipped to participate in the complex field of translation work. We write this in an effort to help the church engage more knowledgeably with the work of Bible translation.

We’ll first develop, in brief, a biblical motivation for Bible translation. The three middle sections of the paper will examine multiple factors that come into play in planning and executing Bible translation work. We’ll discuss assessing the need for Bible translation, understanding good translation practices, and exploring different ways Bible translation needs may be met in different contexts. Our prayer is that, rather than form a daunting checklist, these factors will equip churches to engage in Bible translation work with growing understanding. We long to see church leaders ask translators helpful questions, direct resources with insight, persevere through setbacks, and guide the process of translation with authority and relevance.

Why Translate The Bible? A Biblical Motivation

The task of Bible translation is implicit in the scope of the Great Commission and flows from the very character of God. As the kingdom is proclaimed in new places and revealed to new worshipers in Acts, Luke tells us that “the Word of God” spread and flourished (e.g., Acts 6:7, 12:24). The Bible is integral to how God establishes his kingdom.

Scope of the Great Commission

In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus commissions his disciples with the following words before ascending to heaven:

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to follow all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

Jesus commands that disciples be made “of all nations.” Thus, the gospel is to be proclaimed broadly. He also commands that disciples be taught “to follow all that I commanded you.” Thus, disciple-making goes deep.

The vision of the Kingdom is not just that an unreached people hear the gospel, but that in God’s time they themselves become participants in the Great Commission. As the Word of God spreads it also must be taught, understood, and obeyed, extending both to the ends of the earth and into every corner of believers’ hearts and minds. Such a discipleship process requires careful proclamation, patient teaching, faithful preaching, and personal meditation. It cannot be accomplished quickly or without God’s very words being understood by the people among whom the Kingdom is established.

The Character of God

Bible translation is also commended by God’s consistent example as he communicates his Word to people throughout Scripture. When God speaks to his people, he does so in a language that the hearers understand, in a shared space and time.

God the creator walked in the garden of Eden with Adam and Eve so intimately that they were familiar with the sound of his footsteps (Gen. 3:8). The prophets heard and delivered the Word of God to the people of Israel in their shared language, often illustrating it with their lives. Isaiah prophesied that one of God’s names would be Immanuel, God with us. Finally, in the fullness of time, the Word of God became flesh and lived with people as an actual man. Jesus not only spoke human language, but ate food, wore clothes, tied his sandals, got tired, slept, and even died. Jesus, whom John calls simply “the Word,” is the ultimate translation of God’s Word into human language, and God’s character into humanity itself.

As ambassadors of this same kingdom and message (2 Cor. 5:19), we follow God’s example by doing everything we can to present the Word of God in clear and relevant language.

Assessing with Wisdom: Factors in Project Planning

For hundreds of years, the church has understood the mandate to make the Word accessible as the gospel spreads. It has often led to a declared vision for the church to work toward a Bible for every language. However, accelerating globalization and multilingualism means that world languages now exist in a multi-faceted ecology. Each mother tongue is equal in value to those who claim it, but many languages are unequal in the opportunities and resources they offer to speakers and the domains where they are used. This inequity makes it necessary to tailor our strategies to provide the most appropriate access to the Word of God for each language group. In order for the outside church to make a wise decision about whether and how to approach Bible Translation for a language group, they should understand the language context in terms of the factors outlined below.

The Church

The status of the church among the people group is the first and most crucial factor to consider. Translating the Bible is a long and costly project. It requires significant investment and motivation. A network of churches is more likely to be able to see a translation project through than a few believers among a people.

The indigenous church must also have a desire for the Bible in their own language. Sometimes, Bible translation runs ahead of the church, and the New Testament is shelved as soon as it is printed. The Word is meant for the believers, pastors, preachers, teachers, and evangelists that the Lord provides to the church. If there is no church to receive the Word, then Bible translation is not the primary need. Rather, gospel ministry is needed, and may be served by early translation of verses, stories, and other resources which lay a foundation for both the church and fuller translation work. Evangelism, teaching, discipleship, and church planting must proceed apace with translation work and prepare a people to receive the Bible.

In recent years, a new model of “Church-centered Bible Translation” has emerged. This method should be approached with caution, as some adherents aim at speed and dismiss the expert help of linguists and exegetes to the detriment of the new translation. However, when done well, church-centered Bible translation can unite translation and discipleship in a fruitful way, ensuring that the translation is valued, accepted, and used. The more robust the health and motivation of the church, the more advisable Bible translation is for that language.

Literature vs Oral Preference

As much as 80 percent of people today are oral-preference learners. This means that even among literate people, large swaths of the population habitually consume information orally rather than in writing. Faithful believers through the centuries have learned, meditated, grown, and discipled others through oral means. On one hand, we recognize that the Bible was written down at God’s command, and wherever it has gone, literacy has accompanied it. The task of Bible translation is not complete unless there is a static form of the Word and teachers to handle it faithfully.

At the same time, we should not confuse literacy with maturity, nor make illiteracy a roadblock to the gospel. Orality in a culture should be a factor in determining the format and distribution of a translation project. Oral preference learners are as capable of internalizing and sharing the Word of God as literate learners when the Bible is accessible to them in the manner they are accustomed to teaching and learning.

Multilingualism

About 40% of the world population is monolingual, speaking only one language. Most monolingual speakers use global languages which already have multiple translations of the Bible. The majority of the world and of communities who need the Bible are in bilingual or multilingual environments, and the dynamics of these environments can be difficult for monolinguals to fathom.

People who use multiple languages regularly choose what language to speak based on a variety of internal and contextual motivations. For example, a Christian college student we knew in South Asia could express herself effortlessly only with others who shared her command of (1) her national language, (2) her home language, and (3) her language of education. In Northern India, it is common for minority language speakers to use their first language at home with their family and immediate neighbors, a regional language in the market and government offices, and a global (or prestige) language in school. Even when speakers have equal command of each language, which is rare, they cannot use them interchangeably. For example, a speaker of a minority language in the Himalayan foothills had come to know Christ through Nepali, her second language. After she learned to tell the story of the prodigal son in Nepali, she was at a loss to explain it in her mother tongue. She did not have the right words to express the ideas from the story in her home language. When a multilingual speaker is asked to use one language in a social context dominated by a different language, she may feel something akin to a native English speaker who is asked to explain to business associates when “potty break” and “snack time” will be. The words simply do not fit the context.

Multilingualism is always a complex situation, and is usually dynamic. That is, it may not look the same for all generations in the community, and may therefore shift dramatically in the span of a single generation. It is easy for an outsider to conclude that “everyone” in the minority language community speaks the prestige language, or that the home language is dying. The important questions of language use patterns should be verified through structured research on the ground before the launch of a Bible translation project. This field of research is called Language Survey.

Variable Fluency

It is tempting for monolinguals to conclude that bi- and tri-linguals have a natural affinity for learning languages. The reality, however, is that multilingualism is almost always born of simple pragmatism. Consider the example of driving: a specialized skill in many parts of the world, driving is nearly ubiquitous in the United States. Americans don’t have a particular affinity for operating motor vehicles; rather, many communities do not support a walking life—and so Americans learn to drive.

Similarly, in a multilingual environment, people adopt multiple languages in order to make friends, shop, receive medical care, interact with the government, and succeed in school or work. The fluency of speech in each language is naturally bounded by practical needs. It stands to reason that most speakers would have the highest fluency in their first language, but this is not always true. Further, some speakers prefer to converse in their first language, yet are more comfortable reading in their second or third language. Languages confined to the home may not develop the new vocabulary needed for use in a changing marketplace. We will make incorrect decisions about Bible translation needs if we assume that multilingual speakers have equal fluency in all the languages they speak.

Language Vitality. Languages also vary in vitality. Language vitality addresses the likelihood that a language will continue to be spoken by the next generation. The different stages of language stability or shift have been described in the Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale (EGIDS) shown to the right.

International languages like English or Mandarin are stable with a high number of speakers and a wide variety of applications. In contrast, Threatened and Shifting languages are already in decline and, without intervention, will likely continue to extinction in very few generations. Language vitality becomes a decisive factor in Bible Translation when languages are hovering between 6a and 6b. The salient difference between these two stages is whether parents are passing their mother tongue to the next generation. When multilingual parents in economically challenged communities assume that a prestige language will offer their children the best chance at a livelihood, it’s tempting to simply not speak the mother tongue to that child. As individual parents make this decision in their children’s best interest, the community of speakers declines.

Language Development is an academic field that seeks to understand the dynamics of language shift in a specific context. The goal is to help a community develop agency in planning for their language use into the future. It is a valuable community service that has often worked hand-in-hand with Bible translation, and can sometimes even provide visa opportunities for linguist Bible translators.

In deciding how to approach Bible translation in multilingual environments, the salient considerations are that a language is widely understood, used for meaningful intergenerational communication beyond the home, and stable enough to still be spoken when the translation project is finished. If language use is in steep decline, there are more appropriate strategies to consider for the community than full Bible translation. These strategies are discussed in Section 4.

Preparing for Faithfulness: Issues in Bible Translation Methodology

Bible translation is a conceptually simple task, but practically very complex. The disciplines of linguistics, theology, and anthropology converge with a need for craftsmanship, perseverance, cooperation, and attention to detail. At times, poor translations have misrepresented the claims of Christ to such a degree that people were “inoculated” against future ministry. As in other types of ministry, the offense of a Bible translation should begin and end with the gospel of Jesus Christ, and not come through human error or carelessness.

No Bible translation will be perfect, but translators aim for success in four categories. They strive for every verse to be accurate, clear, natural, and acceptable. Translators want to convey the truth of God’s Word without containing undue offense such as awkward phrases or words borrowed from the language of an oppressor. The following considerations can help to frame a methodology that supports quality translation. They also suggest helpful lines of inquiry as a church considers whether and how to support ongoing translation work.

Translation Process

The Bible translation process generally includes exegesis, drafting, checking, community review, and consultant approval, though the order may vary. Most modern translations are drafted by first-language speakers, and outsiders may assist with other areas of expertise such as linguistics and exegesis.

How will the team be chosen and trained? Where will community reviewers be found to give feedback on the text? Will translation begin with the New Testament or the Old? What technology will be used, and how will technical support be provided? Projects often begin with a translation brief to describe the specific audience, language, and goals of the project (e.g. scope, reading level). It will include a style guide that deals with issues of orthography, language convention, and punctuation.

Exegesis

Who will train and help the team to understand Scripture? Are there biblical resources available in a language the translators understand? How will the text be compared with the original languages? Who will give final approval? How are key biblical terms being decided? Many projects use a “back translation” that seeks to faithfully represent the final translation in a larger language accessible to a trained translation consultant. The consultant is skilled to execute a final check of the content and exegesis.

Orthography

Does the language already exist in written form? If not, what script will be used? Will it need to be modified for the sounds of the language? How will correct spelling be decided? Orthography should usually be finalized with the support of the language community before written translation begins.

Linguistics

If first-language speakers are translating the text, awkwardness is reduced. However, most people cannot articulate the grammar of their own mother tongue beyond what “sounds right.” The variety of human language means that new languages raise new questions.

For example, when Paul writes to the Corinthians that “such were some of you,” does he conjugate the verb in the recent past or distant past tense? When Jesus addresses Bartimaeus, does he do so in the form used for speaking to beggars, slaves, and dogs, or the one reserved for equals and friends? How is the degree of formality, or “register,” shown? In other words, does Jesus appear to address the apostles as “My Brethren” in one instance and “Hey, Guys” in the next?

One important field of study is discourse analysis, which deals with how topics are introduced and continued, and how readers identify the salient v. background events of a story. Incorrect discourse structures render a text unnatural and confusing. Especially when it involves an unanalyzed language, a translation project will likely need the support of a trained linguist.

Culture

How will the gap be bridged between the culture of the biblical writers and the receptor culture? Generally, success in this area requires that either (1) a bilingual speaker from the language community receives advanced training in exegesis and biblical languages, or (2) an outsider with biblical training spends years living among the language group. As the differences become clear, how will they be communicated? What will go into a footnote or glossary, and what will be left for pastors and teachers to interpret? One translation team from a culture where marriage is casual and engagement unknown included a footnote about Jewish betrothal customs so that readers would understand why Joseph’s decision to divorce Mary quietly was notable and righteous.

Funding

What is the expected cost, scope, and timeframe of the project? Will translators be paid a salary? Are they expected to work full-time? Who will manage the logistics, personnel, and money? Are translators accruing savings as part of their wages, and are they developing a marketable skill or certifications? Is there any financial incentive for completion, or does completing the project simply mean that the translators are out of a job?

Acceptability

This element considers factors beyond the text. Is the translation team considered to be of good character by the community, or do their lives make the message suspect? Have existing Christian leaders been invited into the decision-making? Was anyone excluded? What dialect does the people group consider standard and appropriate for a religious text? Are there issues of the physical publication that must be considered? For example, in some cultures, an important book will have gilded pages, whereas in a Hindu or Buddhist community, a leather binding will give undue offense before the pages of Scripture find a hearing.

Modality and Accessibility

Will books or sections of Scripture be published incrementally as they are completed? Will the Bible be available in an app? As audio? What will be the primary means of distribution? How might this Bible be accessed by those with vision or hearing difficulties? Is there a need for a sign language translation in this people group? Sign translations are generally undertaken as separate projects because the language functions differently than spoken languages.

Revision

All translations need revision eventually, and some begin this process shortly after publication. Translators grow in skill and often look back on their earliest books with discontent. Languages facing the pressures of multilingualism generally change more rapidly, and in some areas, parts of a translation may be nearly incomprehensible after 50 years. The writing system may shift or further stabilize after a first publication. It is not uncommon as biblical literacy grows in a maturing church for people to desire a translation that more closely reflects the original languages. Though funding for revision may need to be weighed in view of other priorities, it is often a good investment.

Executing with Insight: Strategies for Meeting Bible Translation Needs

Since languages are not interchangeable, speakers aren’t well-served by a one-size-fits-all translation strategy. Whenever possible, a language that (1) serves as the primary language for a church or a people group, and (2) is likely to continue in this capacity beyond the current generation should have the full Bible. For languages that do not meet these criteria, or for languages where logistical factors make it impossible to undertake a full translation at present, here are a few alternative approaches to consider in seeking to make God’s Word accessible.

Bridging Strategies

Bridging strategies include oral resources such as songs, gospel presentations, oral theology formulations (e.g. catechisms), and Bible stories that offer believers the biblical concepts and vocabulary to know and worship God, pray, and share their faith. These resources are designed to form a “bridge” to an existing Bible in another language that pastors, literate believers, or even all community members understand. Bridging strategies may provide gospel access and discipleship for speakers whose language is facing extinction in the next generation. Other languages may have few or no monolingual speakers, and exist primarily as “identity” languages.

For example, some original North American languages fall into this category. In such cases, bridging strategies can help speakers bring the Bible into all parts of their identity rather than compartmentalizing it as “foreign.” In other cases, the written and spoken forms of a language are so different that they could be considered separate dialects. To write down Scripture in the spoken form would be shocking to literates and useless to those who don’t read, yet the formal literate Bible does not connect with non-literate speakers. In another case, Christians from a group of related but separate languages preferred to unify their fledgling and persecuted church around the Bible in the language used for education. They felt that all literate pastors would be able to read this Bible and teach from it, and that pursuing additional translations would fragment the church. In each of these unusual cases, bridging strategies can provide everyday believers with resources to know and share God in their preferred or strongest language, while they read or are taught from the Bible in another language accessible to their church community.

Bible Storying

Sets of translated Bible stories can offer minority language speakers biblical truth from all over Scripture with fidelity and an accelerated time frame. These sets can vary in number from a handful to over one hundred stories. The stories themselves are simplified for ease of translation and transmission, but remain accurate to the themes of the biblical text. They usually represent a more oral form of language than a Bible translation, and may limit references to unfamiliar names and places.

Often, a “Creation to Christ” framework is used. Translators carefully select stories to give an overview of the Bible and salvation history, preparing a people group for the gospel. Story sets are a good strategy for the very beginning of a New Testament project, and as a bridging strategy for threatened or shifting languages. The stories can aid the preaching of the gospel years before the New Testament is finished or the language is extinct. We’ve seen stories used successfully in both preaching and small group studies. Stories can also help in the process of developing biblical vocabulary, and in finding and preparing gifted translators.

Bible Portions

Bible portions are smaller publications that include anything from a chapter to a few books of the Bible. This is a good strategy in situations where the language is strong but the church is brand new, and needs resources quickly for evangelism, discipleship, and preaching. Many projects use Bible portions en route to a full New Testament or Bible by printing and distributing each book as it is finished. This may benefit both the church and the translation process, as it gives opportunity to hear feedback and revise the translation before publishing the Bible as a whole.

New Testament Only

A New Testament is the go-to strategy for many Bible translation projects. Though it is not a small investment, using computer programs and the team translation approach has reduced the average time to translate the New Testament from thirty years to ten. Often, donors commit to see a project through the New Testament, and cite the priority of other languages with no Scripture as a reason for not continuing to fund the Old Testament. Counter arguments cite the difficulty of understanding the NT without the OT to set the stage of God’s creation, character, and redemption. In an attempt to hold on to both of these motivations, many projects now opt to translate key portions of the Genesis narrative and Psalms along with the New Testament to help frame the gospel story and support discipleship in the absence of a full Old Testament translation.

Computer-aided Translation

Paratext is the most widely-used software for Bible translation. Jointly maintained by SIL Global and the United Bible Societies, it offers robust, Bible-specific support for functions like spell checking, key terms consistency, cross-referencing, and publishing.

In recent years, Bible translation organizations have focused significant efforts on leveraging AI (i.e., machine learning) to power new software for translation. Many AI tools interface directly with Paratext, and most fall into three main categories: AI-aided translation drafting, quality assessment, and support for accessing biblical references (e.g. translators may ask, “What is an ephod?” and let the AI tools search their available reference materials). These AI tools do not replace human judgment and should be carefully considered for their fit with the context, project stage, and team. In many cases, they can offer significant assistance. In particular, translation drafting software such as Scripture Forge can leverage a completed New Testament as input and analyze it to generate a starter draft of an OT book. Some translation teams are finding that because it can reduce cost and time commitment, this has opened the door to continue with Old Testament translation at a reduced funding level once the New Testament is complete.

A Solid Investment: Encouragement Amidst the Complexity of Bible Translation

Bible translation is a complex, difficult, and expensive labor. It can also be daunting. Perhaps you are feeling some trepidation at this point. If so, you are not alone. Martin Luther wrote, “I have undertaken to translate the Bible into German. This was good for me. If I hadn’t done it, I might have died thinking I was smart.” Like missions itself, Bible translation is a marvelous work, and far too great for us. Yet when we consider the effects of the Bible in German—or in English—the benefits cannot be counted. We know that God’s Word does not return void (Isaiah 55:11), but accomplishes the purposes of the One who sent, and is still sending, his Word into the world.

This article is meant to help you ask good questions so that you can engage with insight when you or your church are considering supporting translation work. Here are three summary questions to keep in mind.

Why are we translating the Bible for this language group? Bible translation enables the church to grow into the fullness of Christ. Having a vision for how Scripture will be used in the community situates translation in the wider ministry context. It supports wise decision-making about strategy and process, and arms us against strategies that are motivated by speed and completion regardless of needs or circumstances.

How is the context of this language unique? Every language has a unique set of circumstances. Understanding the status of the church, the vitality of the language, and how people use it will provide a context for wise decisions.

How will the translation actually be done? Understanding the daily processes allows you to offer meaningful support and counsel to those engaged in translation work, and to identify areas where additional support may serve the overall work.

In short, Bible translation is worth it! It is worth wading into all the complexity. God is worthy to have his Word in every language. God’s people are hungry to know him through his Word, and many are still waiting to hear through the church’s witness. The Bible is necessary for people to know and worship God, and to take up their place in fulfilling the Great Commission. The church grows strong on the solid foundation of God’s Word.

As we studied Ephesians 5 with the ten bold evangelists, we encountered yet another surprise: one of the most experienced members of the group shared that she had been avoiding a difficult home life by travelling constantly to share her faith. Her application of the Word that day was to confess abandonment of her family as sin, and return home after the meeting to care for her unbelieving husband and youngest daughter who still lived at home. She continued with the group, but with a drastically reduced travel schedule. Our goal was to train her in sharing the gospel, but the Spirit used the Word to deal with a prior need in her life that we could not have known. Ultimately, both her faith and her witness were strengthened by this obedience. As we approach the task of Bible translation with prayer, humility, and commitment, we can be confident of God’s help, and know that our labor is not in vain.