Day 18 - FAQ's

Okay, we had a poll on the right side of our blog that you could vote on for questions that you would most like answered. While only eleven of you voted (thanks to those who did!), we’ll answer a few of these questions over the rest of our forty days.

So, for one of the top questions that YOU wanted us to answer (drumroll, please):

How long does a translation project take?

The short answer is: it really depends.

I know...a great answer, right? But it’s true. Here's the long answer. Typically, a New Testament project alone can take anywhere from 5 to 20 years depending on many different factors. Add the Old Testament (multiplying the time by at least 2), and you may have 10 to 40 years total. For example, if the people within a certain language group are not too keen on having their language written and they don’t really jump on board with the translation team, the progress will slow down significantly. Or, if the team has a difficult time geographically or politically getting involved with a group, the same thing can happen. Sometimes our teams cannot live in the actual village with the people due to certain factors.

But, on the other end of the spectrum, many technological advances have made the whole process to speed up within related language groups. Many languages in the world are closely related to each other. You may think I mean dialects, but I don’t mean that necessarily. Languages can be related to each other in grammar structure alone...the people may not be able to understand each other, but with a specialized computer program we can easily adapt a Bible translation that is already in place within 1 to 3 years or so!

Another approach that has changed in the past 10 years is using what is called the “cluster approach”. There are projects all around the world that can work with 5, 10, or even 20 language groups at a time with only one Wycliffe translator (or someone from another one of our partner organizations)! This approach uses workshops with the nationals, training them to translate Scripture on their own with guidance. While this is not available in every part of the world, it is a strategic advantage that we have been using to bring God’s Word into all the languages around the world at an accelerated pace.

The pace of translations starting 10 years ago was one translation about every 18 days. Today, a new translation starts every 4 to 5 days! You want to see God at work? Check out how He is blessing Wycliffe Bible Translators and their partners in the incredible work of Bible Translation here!

Hope this was informative!

Trevor