Ambitious plans for Bible translation in Nigeria

NIGERIA — Between them, Nigeria’s 132 million citizens speak more than 500 different languages. At least part of the Bible is now available in almost 100 of these languages, a significant testimony to the work of the Bible Society of Nigeria and other agencies involved in Bible translation. The Bible Society is now keen to build on these achievements, by both translating the Bible into more languages and reducing the length of time required to complete translation projects.

The language in which the full Bible became available most recently in Nigeria was Itsekiri. With around 510,000 speakers in Delta State, this is one of the country’s more widely used languages. The launch in December was the culmination of 35 years’ dedicated, painstaking work, with the major landmark being the launch of the Itsekiri New Testament in 1985.

With technology now available to assist translation teams, the Bible Society’s goal is to reduce the average length of time required to complete a translation to around 12 years, according to General Secretary the Rev Dr Fred Odutola. The Bible Society is currently involved in nine projects: the Old Testament in Igede, Idoma, Bura and Ebira, the New Testament in Etsako, the Hausa Common Language Bible, and revised Bibles in Tiv, Isoko, and Igala. It is also planning to begin an Efik Common Language translation project as soon as the necessary staff can be recruited.

The Ebira and Igala translation projects were launched in April to great excitement among their respective language communities and in the presence of United Bible Societies’ Translation Consultant Dr Aroga Bessong. The translators recruited for these projects, along with new translators joining the Bura, Idoma and Igede projects, received a sound grounding for their work in the form of a two-week course covering basic translation principles, along with some administrative and computer training.

With each translation project costing more than 20 million Nairas (US$156,000), funding will be the key determining factor for the success of these projects in the years to come.

For an earlier report about translation projects in Nigeria, see World Report 403/9.

This report refers to projects 88307, 83313, 83314, 83315, 83316, 83317, 83318, 83321, 83324 and 83344. (WR 404/18 - 08.06) [1 photo]