There are 6,887 known languages in the world, and there are no Bible translations in 60% of them. According to the May 23 announcement of United Bible Societies (UBS), 2,935 languages have been used to translate at least one book of the Gospel, as of the end of December 2105. There still are 3,952 languages that have not been used for Bible translation, and the population using those languages number 400 million nine thousand persons.
The entire Bible is now available in 563 of the languages used for Bible translation so far. This number is 21 more than in the year 2014. As of last year, the New Testament exists in 1,334 languages, and parts of the Bible, mostly the Gospels, are available in 1,038 languages. Last year, 20 new and revised translations, and two with commentaries were newly published. Since 2013, USB has been carrying out a “100 Translations Project.” Translations into 90 languages have been completed as of 2015, and among them 53 have been published.
In the case of the Khumi Chin Bible of Myanmar, the New Testament was published in 1958 but translation and publication of the Old Testament was halted due to financial difficulties. In 2001, however, the Korean churches supported the translation and publication of the entire Bible. In Liberia, in the midst of the Ebola epidemic with its many fatalities, Bible translation was carried out and books of the Gospel were published in two languages.
Reporter Pyeong Seon Jeon (junbs@kmib.co.kr), with Yeara Ahn-Park (yap@kmib.co.kr)
Click here for the original article in Korean
Bible Is Yet To Be Translated Into 60% of 6,887 Known World Languages
2016-05-24 17:57
