What Happens After You Translate the Bible?

*The following post is from the Wycliffe blog.

Some people think our work ends with a Bible translation, but there's more to it than that. Here are some other key steps that help make a Bible translation successful:

Literacy
Many of the languages we work with have never been written down, so when a Bible translation finally becomes available, people are eager to learn how to read it. We're able to help by training a few local teacher who can then pass on those literacy skills to others.

Scripture Use
When people get the Bible in their own language for the first time, they need help learning how to study it and apply it to their lives. Without this critical step, false teaching can quickly creep in as people take Scripture out of context, or Bibles may not be used at all. We address this need by providing consultants to work with local pastors and religious leaders who can then pass these skills on to their congregations.

Multilingual Education
Although we want to make sure that people have the Bible in their heart language, however isolated the group may be, it is also important to help those communities learn the language commonly used in their country. Just as we've seen literacy impact lives, multilingual education has too. Education is still done in their heart language, but over time they are introduced to the national languages to benefit their interactions and development. Local teachers play a huge part in this. Often times, we'll train teachers from these isolated communities and they will be the ones teaching the children and the non-traditional students with multilingual education.

There is so much more to translating the Bible than just the process of translation. Education and Scripture use programs are just scratching the surface of some of the things we do after a translation is complete, but they are really significant. Translation is just one step in this awesome road to transformation.