Church unity drives New Testament translation in Albania

TIRANA, Albania — Albania’s churches emerged from 50 years of communist persecution in the early 1990s suffering a severe shortage of clergy and theologians. However, communism had by no means eliminated interest in the Scriptures within Albanian society, an interest which was fuelled by people’s new-found freedom of speech and belief.

Against a background of radical political, social and cultural change, the churches realised that it had become necessary to undertake a new translation of the Bible. No real progress had been made with Bible translation since the Communist Party came to power, and existing translations no longer fully met the needs of either Christians or non-Christians.

Get to know the Bible

The Eastern Orthodox, Protestant and Roman Catholic Churches approached the Interconfessional Bible Society of Albania (IBSA) and the Se Bashku (‘Together’) project to produce a new translation of the New Testament. Their vision was to produce a translation which would not compete with the existing ones but would, through being easier to read, encourage more people to get to know the Bible and play an active role in church life.

With the assistance of IBSA, the churches each appointed one translator to form the core of the project team. In each case, the translators were only in their late 20s when they embarked upon an initial training year, reflecting the fact that the churches were looking to the younger generation to fuel their revival in the post-communist era.

Investment

Although young, the translators were already highly qualified and held important positions within their churches. The training year proved a very valuable investment for the long-term success of the project, as it allowed the translators to get to know each other well, build up an understanding of their different backgrounds and become familiar with various translation techniques. The team was boosted by a tutor in Greek, a stylistics expert and a co-ordinator.

Upon completion of the training year, the translators established a working routine which allows them to pursue their day-to-day church ministry, translate between one and two chapters each week and check each other’s work. Though extremely busy, they have made a commitment to meet weekly, usually at the Catholic cathedral but sometimes at the Orthodox Theological Academy or the IBSA office, to share a time of prayer and worship and to discuss issues such as variations between the different churches in the use of certain terminology.

The weekly meetings, along with two or three three-day meetings each year with United Bible Societies (UBS) Translation Consultant the Rev Dr Carlo Buzzetti, ensure that the translators can make smooth progress towards a final text which, as the first interconfessional Scripture translation, will be a milestone for the Albanian churches.

Spin-offs

The translators have also been very active in raising awareness of their work, and the project has attracted considerable media attention. It is anticipated that, despite its relatively small budget, this work will have a number of valuable spin-offs, including books to guide future Bible translators, a Greek-Albanian New Testament dictionary and a diglot Albanian-Italian Gospel of John aimed at the 90,000 Albanians living in Italy.

Reflecting on the impact that the interconfessional New Testament translation project is having on Albania’s churches, Brunilda Ndoci, the Project Co-ordinator, says, “Working together to translate the Bible makes one understand that it is important and that it unifies. The fact that the translators come from the three churches is a good example of working together and an important stone in the foundation of the progress of the Gospel in Albania.”

Ms Ndoci emphasises that the support of the UBS fellowship has been vital to the team’s work. Visits from Dr Buzzetti and Dr Simon Crisp, Regional Translation Coordinator for Europe-Middle East, have greatly encouraged the translators, and without UBS financial support “the whole project would have been almost impossible”. (WR 380/20 - 10.03)