A Guide To Bible Translation: People, Languages, and Topics

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The United Bible Societies is pleased to announce the publication of A Guide to Bible Translation: People, Languages, and Topics This Guide offers an overview of theory and practice in Scripture translation from ancient times to the present—with an eye to the future. The Guide’s 726 articles by 180 contributors are addressed to a global readership of Bible translators, students of culture and biblical studies, as well as interested church members and clerical leaders.     

Contributing authors include Elizabeth Amaatekai Armar, Paul Ellingworth, Rim Hassen, Cynthia Miller-Naudé, Christiane Nord, Douglas Robinson, R. Daniel Shaw, Ronald J. Sim, Daud Soesilo, and Ernst R. Wendland. The Guide’s wide-ranging articles are gathered into three key subject areas:

1. People — The individuals presented include innovators and tireless advocates, from Jerome and Wulfila in Antiquity to Luther, Tyndale and Diodati in Reformation era Europe; from missionary translators like Ross and Nylander to mother-tongue translators like Yajiro and Su-Jung Lee; and includes modern-day translation scholars like E.A. Nida, K.L. Pike, and W.C. Townsend.

2. Languages — Besides concise, insightful looks at the original biblical languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek) and languages contemporaneous with the original languages, the Guide looks at 170 languages, most still spoken, that have been the recipients of key Bible translations over the past 500 years. 

3. Topics — The final section provides perspectives on translation in relation to the translation text. Extended essays (e.g., Figurative language; Translation theory and Bible translation) provide context and perspective on challenging issues; others address the practical issues faced by translators (Citation and allusion; Gender and grammar); and still others provide concise treatments of key terms (Language Taboo; Periphrasis; Ideophones).