The Institute for Bible Translation (IBT) was founded in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

in 1973 by the Bosnian- Croatian poet Borislav Arapović, its main task being to publish Bibles for "non-Slavic peoples in Slavic countries," not just

Bible translations into the languages of Russia Traditionally Russia used the Old Church Slavonic language and Slavonic Bible, and in the modern era Bible translations into Russian. The minority languages of Russia usually have a much more recent history, many of them having been commissioned or ...

but also

Central Asian languages Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the former S ...

. Eighty-five million people in non-Slavic ethnic groups living in the former Soviet Union—now

CIS Cis or cis- may refer to: Places * Cis, Trentino, in Italy * In Poland: ** Cis, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, south-central ** Cis, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, north Math, science and biology * cis (mathematics) (cis(''θ'')), a trigonome ...

, including

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

—represent a tremendous diversity of languages (at least 130 different languages) and religions (

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

and

shamanism Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a Spirit world (Spiritualism), spirit world through Altered state of consciousness, altered states of consciousness, such as tranc ...

). The Institute for Bible Translation is also a part of the

Forum of Bible Agencies International The Forum of Bible Agencies International is an alliance of more than 25 international Bible Agencies and other missions organizations which provides access to the Bible and encourages its use worldwide. The Forum provides standards for Bible tran ...

History of IBT

1970s: Reprints of 19th-century translations

Initially IBT also republished 19thC BFBS versions which had fallen out of print, such as the Psalms in Yakut (1897, reprinted IBT 1975).

1980s: new translations programme

The IBT office in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

was opened in 1983. It coordinates the translation projects in 12 Finno-Ugric languages spoken in Russia. In 1988 IBT supplied 150,000 copies of the Lopukhin Bible free of charge to the Orthodox Patriarchate. At the time this, and an earlier shipment of 100,000 copies, almost doubled the number of Bibles in circulation in the USSR.

1990s: registration in Moscow

Since 1995 IBT Russia/CIS (russian: Институт перевода Библии) has been registered in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. The staff members are from various Christian denominations. The current director is Dr. Vitaly Voinov. IBT's Moscow office coordinates the work of 65 translation teams, whose members may live in different areas or even in different countries. It arranges training courses for them and organizes seminars and conferences. The Bible texts are prepared there for printing. The Institute also produces Scripture books for children, Bible reference works and language-related research material. IBT in Russia/CIS cooperates with churches and religious organizations of all Christian denominations, national Bible Societies, scientific (academic) institutions and the state authorities.

Translation programmes

IBT is a member of the

. In some translation projects, the institute works in partnership with other international Bible agencies, such as the

United Bible Societies The United Bible Societies (UBS) is a global fellowship of around 150 Bible Societies operating in more than 240 countries and territories. It has working hubs in England, Singapore, Nairobi and Miami. The headquarters are located in Swindon, Eng ...

, the

SIL SIL, Sil and sil may refer to: Organizations * Servis Industries Limited, Pakistan * Smithsonian Institution Libraries * SIL International, formerly Summer Institute of Linguistics * Apex Silver Mines (former American Stock Exchange ticker symb ...

Wycliffe Bible Translators Wycliffe Global Alliance is an alliance of organizations that have objective of translating the Bible into every language. The organisation is named after John Wycliffe, who was responsible for the first complete English translation of the whole ...

and

Pioneer Bible Translators Pioneer Bible Translators is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) mission organization focused on Bible translation in languages that do not already have a Bible. History Pioneer Bible Translators has its roots in the Restoration Movement. The organizati ...

. The aim of IBT is to produce accurate and faithful translations that reveal the Bible's message to modern readers. So far IBT has translated and published the Bible, or portions of it, in more than 80 languages, including 5 (Tajik, Georgian, Tuvin, Chechen and Udmurt) complete Bibles and 31 New Testaments. IBT's Children's Bible has been published in 38 languages.

Languages

Languages in which IBT works include: *

Ibero-Caucasian The term Ibero-Caucasian (or Iberian-Caucasian) was proposed by Georgian linguist Arnold Chikobava for the union of the three language families that are specific to the Caucasus, namely * South Caucasian, also called Kartvelian. * Northwest Ca ...

: Abaza, Abkhaz, Avar, Adygei, Agul,

Andi Andi or ANDI may refer to: People and fictional characters * Andy (given name), including people and fictional characters with the name Andi * Andi people, an ethnic group of Dagestan, Russia Places * Andi, Guizhou, a town in Jinsha County, Gu ...

, Bezhta, Chechen, Dargin,

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

, Kabardian, Lak, Lezgi, Rutul, Tabassaran, Tsakhur, Tsez *Iranian language group: Baluchi, Digor,

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...

(Kurmanji), Ossetian,

Rushani Rushani is one of the Pamir languages spoken in Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Rushani is relatively closer to all Northern Pamiri languages sub-group whether it is Shughni language, Shughni, Yazgulyam language, Yazgulami, Sarikoli language, Sariku ...

, Shughni,

Tajik Tajik, Tadjik, Tadzhik or Tajikistani may refer to: * Someone or something related to Tajikistan * Tajiks, an ethnic group in Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan * Tajik language, the official language of Tajikistan * Tajik (surname) * Tajik cu ...

, Tat, Wakhi,

Yasgulyam The Yazgulyam language (also Yazgulami, Yazgulyami, Iazgulem, Yazgulam, Yazgulyamskiy, Jazguljamskij, Qzgulqmski tg, yazgulomi) is a member of the Southeastern subgroup of the Iranian languages, spoken by around 9,000 people along the Yazgulyam ...

, *Isolates: Ket,

Nivkh Nivkh or Amuric or Gilyak may refer to: * Nivkh people The Nivkh, or Gilyak (also Nivkhs or Nivkhi, or Gilyaks; ethnonym: Нивхгу, ''Nʼivxgu'' (Amur) or Ниғвңгун, ''Nʼiɣvŋgun'' (E. Sakhalin) "the people"), are an indigenous et ...

Yukagir Yukagir (russian: Юкагир; sah, Дьүкээгир, ''Cükeegir'') is a rural locality (a '' selo''), the only inhabited locality and the administrative center of Yukagirsky National (Nomadic) Rural Okrug of Ust-Yansky District in the Sak ...

, *Mongolian: Buryat, Kalmyk, *

Manchu-Tungus The Tungusic languages (also known as Manchu-Tungus and Tungus) form a language family spoken in Eastern Siberia and Manchuria by Tungusic peoples. Many Tungusic languages are endangered. There are approximately 75,000 native speakers of the doz ...

: Nanai,

Even Even may refer to: General * Even (given name), a Norwegian male personal name * Even (surname) * Even (people), an ethnic group from Siberia and Russian Far East ** Even language, a language spoken by the Evens * Odd and Even, a solitaire game w ...

, Evenki *

Paleo-Asiatic Paleosiberian (or Paleo-Siberian) languages or Paleoasian (Paleo-Asiatic) (from , "ancient") are several Language isolate, linguistic isolates and small Language family, families of languages spoken in parts of northeastern Siberia and the Ru ...

: Chukchi,

Itelmen The Itelmens (Itelmen: Итәнмән, russian: Ительмены) are an indigenous ethnic group of the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia. The Itelmen language is distantly related to Chukchi and Koryak, forming the Chukotko-Kamchatkan language ...

, Koryak * Samoyedic:

Enets The Enets (russian: энцы, ; singular: , ; also known as Yenetses, Entsy, Entsi, Yenisei or Yenisey Samoyeds) are a Samoyedic peoples, Samoyedic ethnic group who live on the east bank, near the mouth, of the Yenisei River. Historically nomadic ...

, Nenets,Mathijs Pelkmans ''Conversion after socialism: disruptions, modernisms and Technologies of Faith in the Former Soviet Union'' Journal of Church and State. Aug 2010 Page 80 "Only in 2004 was the first part of Bible, the Gospel of Luke, translated into Nenets by

Maria Barmich Maria Yakovlevna Barmich (russian: Мари́я Я́ковлевна Ба́рмич; born 1934) is a professor, researcher of the Nenets language, and the first scientist among Nenets women. She was born in the Kaninskaya tundra of the Kanino-T ...

, a Nenets linguist. The translation was commissioned by the Institute for Bible Translation (IBT) in Stockholm (see Barmich 2004)." Nganassan, Selkup *

Sino-Tibetan Sino-Tibetan, also cited as Trans-Himalayan in a few sources, is a family of more than 400 languages, second only to Indo-European in number of native speakers. The vast majority of these are the 1.3 billion native speakers of Chinese languages. ...

Dungan Dungan may refer to: * Donegan, an Irish surname, sometimes spelled Dungan * Dungan people, a group of Muslim people of Hui origin ** Dungan language ** Dungan, sometimes used to refer to Hui Chinese people generally * Dungan Mountains in Sibi Dist ...

* Turkic: Altai,

Azeri Azerbaijanis (; az, Azərbaycanlılar, ), Azeris ( az, Azərilər, ), or Azerbaijani Turks ( az, Azərbaycan Türkləri, ) are a Turkic peoples, Turkic people living mainly in Azerbaijan (Iran), northwestern Iran and the Azerbaijan, Republi ...

Balkar The Balkars ( krc, Малкъарлыла, Malqarlıla or Таулула, , 'Mountaineers') are a Turkic people of the Caucasus region, one of the titular populations of Kabardino-Balkaria. Their Karachay-Balkar language is of the Ponto-Casp ...

, Bashkir, Crimean Tatar, Chuvash,

Dolgan Dolgans (; Dolgan: , , (Sakha); Yakut: ) are an ethnic group who mostly inhabit Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. They are descended from several groups, particularly Evenks, one of the indigenous peoples of the Russian North. They adopted a Turki ...

, Gagauzi,

Karachai The Karachays ( krc, Къарачайлыла, Qaraçaylıla or таулула, , 'Mountaineers') are an indigenous Caucasian Turkic ethnic group in the North Caucasus. They speak Karachay-Balkar, a Turkic language. They are mostly situate ...

, Kazakh,

Khakas The Khakas (also spelled Khakass; Khakas: , ''khakas'', , ''tadar'', , ''khakastar'', , ''tadarlar'') are a Turkic indigenous people of Siberia, who live in the republic of Khakassia, Russia. They speak the Khakas language. The Khakhassian p ...

, Kumyk,

Kyrgyz Kyrgyz, Kirghiz or Kyrgyzstani may refer to: * Someone or something related to Kyrgyzstan *Kyrgyz people *Kyrgyz national games *Kyrgyz language *Kyrgyz culture *Kyrgyz cuisine *Yenisei Kirghiz *The Fuyü Gïrgïs language in Northeastern China ...

, Nogai, Shor,

Tatar The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

Turkmen Turkmen, Türkmen, Turkoman, or Turkman may refer to: Peoples Historical ethnonym * Turkoman (ethnonym), ethnonym used for the Oghuz Turks during the Middle Ages Ethnic groups * Turkmen in Anatolia and the Levant (Seljuk and Ottoman-Turkish desc ...

, Tuvin, Uzbek, Yakut

References

External links

IBT, Sweden HomepageIBT, Russia/CIS HomepageIBT, Finland Homepage
{{Authority control Christian organizations established in 1973