news
of Bible translation 2010
25.05.10
I The
award to the founder of IBT Dr. Arapovic, of an honorary
diploma as a Foreign Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences
“May
God Bless Russia” – those were the concluding words of Dr.
Arapovic’s response speech at the ceremony of awarding him
an honorary Foreign Member’s diploma of the Russian Academy
of Sciences.
Born in 1935 in Bosnia Hercegovina, and
later an immigrant to Sweden, Borislav Arapovic became the
initiator of the foundation in Stockholm in
1973 of the Institute for Bible Translation (IBT), with
the aim of translating and publishing Bible texts in the
mother tongues of the indigenous non-Slavic peoples of the
Soviet Union. He was the IBT Director for 24 years (until
1997). On his initiative at the beginning of the 1990s a
branch of the Institute was opened in Moscow and a cooperation
agreement was signed between IBT and the Russian Academy
of Sciences. In 1997 with the blessing of the late Patriarch
Alexiy II the Russian organization Institute of Bible
Translation was able to move into offices on the premises
of the former St. Andrew’s monastery, where it has remained
until the present time. Over the years since then IBT staff
have implemented a wide range of projects, translating different
parts of the Bible into more than 80 non-Slavic languages
of Russia and other countries of the CIS.
On behalf of numerous Russian colleagues
and friends Dr. Arapovic was welcomed and congratulated
by academician E. Chelyshev. The solemn ceremony of the
award took place in the presence of many guests, including
a representative of the Croatian Embassy Mr. Igor Prelovsek.
During the days of his visit to Moscow Dr. Arapovic also
visited the office of the Institute for Bible Translation
where he had friendly meetings with colleagues.
13.05.10
I Roundtable
discussion of the first New Testament in Khakas
On
13 May a roundtable discussion about the recently published
New Testament in Khakas took place at the National Library
in Abakan, the capital of Khakasia in southern Siberia.
Members of the translation group, members of the Khakas
writers' union and representatives of cultural, religious
and educational life in Abakan were among the participants,
as well as journalists from TV, radio and newspapers.
The
event was conducted by translator Ilya Topoev. Several members
of the translation group, among them Galina Litvinenko and
Tatyana Borgoyakova, told about their work on the translation
and several participants expressed their gratitude that
the New Testament now also exists in the Khakas language.
One participant said: “This book will give new life to the
Khakas language”, and another continued: “This is a great
achievement for our culture and for the spiritual life of
our people. I would like to ask the administration of our
republic to work for the propagation of this book. It is
time for our people to rise above their shamanistic world
view and turn to the supreme God.”
12.05.10
I The
Psalms with parallel texts in Georgian
In
the liturgy of the Georgian church the translation of the
Psalms made in the 11th century is still used. Since this
old text is difficult for people today to understand, IBT
has made an adaptation of the Psalms for home reading. This
project has been done with the blessing of the Georgian
Patriarch Ilya II and in cooperation with the Georgian Orthodox
church. The book, which came off press at the beginning
of May, contains three parallel texts in Georgian: the Psalms
of the 11th century in two different scripts and the adaptation
of the Psalms into modern Georgian. The work on the adaptation
began in the autumn of 2004. Many Georgian specialists have
taken part in the project.
On 11 May a presentation of the Psalms
in parallel texts
took place at the Patriarchate of the Georgian Orthodox
church in Tbilisi, in the presence of the Georgian Patriarch
Ilya II. Members of the translation group, scholars from
the University and Academy of Sciences and students from
the spiritual seminaries and academies of Tbilisi were also
among the participants, as well as representatives from
the cultural life and mass-media. The event was conducted
by Ketevani Gadilia, administrative coordinator of the project.
The participants welcomed the new edition and mentioned
that the new publication will give the readers new knowledge
and help them to understand the Psalms better. The text
will also be used in seminaries and for textual comparison.
07.04.10
I The
first New Testament in Tabasaran published
At
the end of March the first New Testament in the Tabasaran
language came from the printer. This is the third NT that
IBT has so far published in a language of Dagestan. New
Testaments in Avar and Kumyk were published earlier.
The Tabasarans (132,000) live in south-western Dagestan.
They are considered to be one of the aboriginal peoples
of the Caucasus. References to them date back to the early
Christian era. The Tabasarans adopted the Muslim faith in
the 8th – 9th centuries following Arab conquests. Previously
there were Christian elements in their culture. Stories
from the Old Testament and even about Jesus remain in folksongs
and proverbs. Pictures of the cross can be found in carpets
and carvings in wood or stone. Tabasaran belongs to the
Ibero-Caucasian group of languages.
The publication of the New Testament is the result of almost
twenty years of work. Several prominent Tabasaran writers
and specialists have taken part in the translation process
during this time.
Earlier the Gospel of Mark (1997), the Gospel of Luke (2000)
and the Four Gospels and Acts (2004) were published in Tabasaran,
as well as “Stories of Jesus” at the end of 2009. The translation
group is planning to continue their translation work on
the Old Testament books.
With the publication of the New Testament in their language
the Tabasarans have received a very important book which
will open up a new world to them. Besides its spiritual
values the text will help develop the Tabasaran language
and enrich its lexical resources with new terms, concepts
and idiomatic expressions. Our hope is that this book will
be a blessing to the Tabasaran people.
15.03.10 I
The Gospel of Mark in Nenets: book and audio-recording
In
February Mark's Gospel in Nenets came from the printer and
a few weeks later the audio-recorded CDs of the same text
were delivered. The books and CDs have been shipped to northern
Siberia and we hope that they will reach the Nenets area
while the rivers are still frozen so that they can be distributed
to far away villages.
The Gospel of Mark has been translated by Nenets people
who live their traditional life in their own homeland. A
growing group of Nenets believers is eagerly waiting for
this Gospel, as they have themselves been engaged in the
translation process by helping to test the translation and
by using the texts in church services. Many have been praying
and collecting money for the project. The text has been
audio-recorded, because many Nenets are not so used to reading
their language.
The exegetical advisor from South Korea says: “As the author
of the Gospel of Mark did his best to help the Gentiles
to understand the Good News, so we did our best to translate
the Good News for the Nenets clearly and precisely into
their daily spoken language.”
“It is a great joy for us to have the audio version of Mark
together with the book. Listening while looking at the text
will certainly help the Nenets to read it. The living Word
of God will bring hope to the Nenets.”
02.02.10
I The
first New Testament published in the Khakas language
At
the beginning of February the first copies of the Khakas
New Testament came from the printing house. So far the New
Testament has been translated into almost 1200 languages
of the world. Now the Khakas language is also among them.
The first steps towards the New Testament
were the trial publications of Mark's Gospel (1995), Luke
and Acts (1999), and a book containing John's Gospel, the
letters of John, and Revelation (2004). An important stage
in preparing the Khakas readers for the New Testament was
the publishing of the Four Gospels in 2007 and the illustrated
Children's Bible in 2008.
The Khakas New Testament is mainly intended
for home reading. In the appendix there are maps of Palestine
and the Middle East in New Testament times, photographs
of biblical sites and a glossary with explanation of the
most important words and expressions which are found in
the New Testament.
At the presentation of the Children's Bible
in the National Library of Abakan in October 2008 the forthcoming
publication of the Khakas New Testament was announced and
the reactions were very positive: ”This holy book will serve
as the basis for our spiritual education, it will enlarge
the range of function of the Khakas language. At the same
time we will be able to use the translation for scientific
and educational purposes, it will give the national language
a higher prestige, and it will deepen and multiply the cultural
wealth of the Khakas people”, said some of the participants.
18.01.10
I The
book of Psalms in the Yakut language
A
translation of the book of Psalms into Yakut was published
by IBT in January 2010. The Psalms are the most loved and
the most widely read book of the Old Testament. The Psalms
give comfort in the sorrows and problems of life and through
them we can express our suffering, hope, love, faith and
joy in life with God.
The Psalms which were translated into Yakut
from Greek in the 19th century through the efforts of zealous
Russian Orthodox missionaries meant a great deal to the
Yakut people. Unfortunately it is difficult for modern Yakut
readers to understand this book, which was translated more
than 100 years ago. The new translation, based on the Masoretic
text, differs somewhat from the translation based on the
Greek Septuagint. Some of these differences are explained
in footnotes below the text on each page.
The team which translated the Psalms into
their native language consisted of the well-known Yakut
author D.K. Sivtsev and IBT's translator Sargylana Leontyeva.
The philological editor was the Yakut poet S. Rufov and
the translation consultant and exegetical advisor was Dr
David Clark.
Earlier published translations into Yakut
by IBT Russia/CIS are the New Testament (2004, 2008) and
Hexapsalm (2007), a book with Six Psalms, translated
from the Greek Septuagint for liturgical use.
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