How to Translate the Bible into Every Language in the World
This article is excerpted from the whitepaper “The Gateway Languages Strategy” published by Distant Shores Media at unfoldingword.org/gateway.
In 2001, without any fanfare or announcement, a people group in Papua New Guinea decided that they were not going to wait any longer for a missionary to translate the Bible into their language. They had asked for help more than ten years before, but no help had come. The element of the Church in this people group was going to start translating the Bible into their own language, for themselves.
But two obstacles hindered them from their objective. The first was a language problem: the full array of Bible translation training, exegetical resources and software needed in order to translate the Bible efficiently and with excellence was only available in English. Some of the Church leaders in the people group spoke some English, but they were not sufficiently bilingual to use English-only resources effectively and with confidence. The second obstacle was a legal one: the element of the Church in this people group could not legally use many of the translation resources, even if they could understand them. The licenses governing the use of the resources only applied to Bible translators who were members of certain Western missionary organizations.
These same obstacles still hinder the Church in thousands of people groups all over the world today. Many biblical resources that could be used effectively by the global Church to end their own spiritual famine are available only in English, and the vast majority of them are restricted by licenses that prevent the Church from using them. The existence of this “walled garden” of biblical content that is only available to some (but not others) may be neither immoral or illegal, but it is real nonetheless, and it locks out immense numbers of the global Church.
These same obstacles still hinder the Church in thousands of people groups all over the world today.
In the last two centuries, the predominant model for Bible translation was based on an “outside-in” approach. Frequently, this model was employed in people groups where the Church had not yet been established.
This was the predominant model for much of the 20th century and though it may still be necessary in some contexts, it is of limited effectiveness in many others. Furthermore, the good intent of “reaching every language” is often blocked by the limitations of institutional capacity that result in shortfalls of funding or personnel. The limitations of this centralized model have prevented it from scaling efficiently to meet the immense global needs for Bible translation.
But all this is changing. Many Church networks that do not speak English and are not affiliated with Bible translation organizations are becoming directly involved in translating the Bible for themselves. This “church-centric” process begins from within the people group as they reach outward to use source texts and exegetical resources in a language of wider communication and then translate into their language.
The process of using resources (e.g., source texts, exegetical helps, etc.) for Bible translation carries with it intrinsic legal implications. Unless resources are made available under licenses that permit the global Church to freely use them and create legally-unencumbered derivative works, the Church is faced with the undesirable prospect of needing to break the laws of men to build the Kingdom of God. By addressing the issues of the licenses under which translation resources are released, no element of the global Church will ever have to make this choice.
A Strategic Shift
Multilingualism is now a global phenomenon, due in large part to globalization and the vast reach of mobile communication technology. This provides a missiological opportunity: To the extent that the Church in each people group is bilingual in a language of wider communication, they have access (with regard to language ability) to biblical resources in that language. Given adequate biblical resources in that language of wider communication and the legal freedom to use those resources for Bible translation and creation of other content, a global shift to an “inside-in” model in every people group where the Church exists becomes possible. If biblical resources are made available not only in English, but also in Spanish, Chinese, and Arabic (for example), the elements of the Church that understand these languages also gain access to the resources.
This brings us to a strategic question: What is the smallest number of languages of wider communication in which biblical content is needed in order to provide it to 100% of people groups through global patterns of multilingualism?
Recent research suggests that there are about fifty highly strategic languages of wider communication — gateway languages — that, in the aggregate, cover all people groups and languages through patterns of multilingualism. This, together with the rise of the global Church around the world forms the basis of the Gateway Languages Strategy. The objective is:
To equip the global Church with the content, tools and training materials needed for translation of the Bible and creation of culturally-relevant, theologically-sound biblical resources in every language needed by the global Church. It does so by providing these resources under open licenses and then collaborating with Church networks worldwide to translate and adapt them into the ~50 Languages of Wider Communication that cover 100% of the global Church through patterns of multilingualism (the Gateway Languages).
In this way, every element of the Church in each people group is provided with essential biblical resources in a language that they understand and that they have the legal freedom to use for Bible translation and creation of other biblical resources in their own languages.
The process for making a biblical resource available to the entire global Church as part of the Gateway Languages strategy is straightforward:
- Release the content under an open license (we recommend a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License)
- Collaborate with Church networks (and others in the “free and open” movement) to translate the content into a Gateway Language.
- Connect the Church that is bilingual in the Gateway Language to the content, as well as relevant tools and training.
By providing unrestricted biblical content, translation tools, and training resources in the Gateway Languages of the world, the entire global Church can collaborate together concurrently to meet the need for translation of the Bible and creation of relevant and sound theological resources in every language of the world.
See the list of Gateway Languages and find out more about the strategy at unfoldingword.org/gateway. Find out more about how you can join the Church-centric Bible Translation movement here.
