The Bible has been translated into its 800th language, with the second 400 taking just 1.5% as long to complete as the first 400, Wycliffe Bible Translators have announced.
The latest milestone means an estimated 6.2 billion around the world can now read Scripture in their own language, 500 million more than in 2020. The landmark 800 figure also points to an ongoing remarkable upward trend in translation efforts, with the number of languages which have the whole Bible translated having doubled since 1998, with the first 400 taking 1,900 years to complete, and the next 400 just 28.
The increasing speed of Bible translation appears to have been largely aided by technological developments, with computers, and generators which power them in more remote areas, proving to be crucial tools in speeding the process along.
Increasingly high-quality translation software and artificial intelligence (AI) have also made the process quicker, but Wycliffe cited a greater number of people involved with the work and increased funding as other key drivers of improvement.
Wycliffe Communications Specialist Jeremy Weightman revealed to en that they cannot be certain which specific translation was the 800th to be released, due to many editions being launched “without fanfare because of security issues” or in digital form only.
However, despite celebrating 800 translations as a major milestone, around 20% of people still do not have access to the Bible in their own language, amounting to around 1.5 billion, meaning much work remains.
Asked how long it will take for the remaining translations to be completed, Weightman revealed that there will likely never be a day when the work of translation is completed, due to there still being thousands of languages without the Bible and the constant development of other languages over time.
However, he remains optimistic due to the recent “unprecedented” acceleration in the work: “There is more work going on in more languages than ever before, from the very first stages of work to the final printing of a physical book or uploading to an app.
“As a result, if the current rate of acceleration can be maintained, projections are that in the next ten to 15 years, 95% of the world’s population will have the Bible, 99.95% will have a New Testament and 100% will have access to at least some portion of Scripture.”
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