IBT’s Bible translation project in the Adyghe language continues its work with the recent publication of Gospel Parables. This edition had been previously published by IBT in many other languages of Russia, such as Agul, Bezhta, Dargi, Digor, Dungan, Even, Kabardian, Kumyk, Lak, Nenets, Nogai, Rutul, Siberian Tatar, Tatar, and Tsakhur.
Besides the collection of parables from Luke’s Gospel that IBT has used in previous editions -- the Good Samaritan (Lk 10:30-35), the Rich Fool (Lk 12:16-21), the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Lk 18:10-14), the Rich Man and Lazarus (Lk 16:19-31), the Lost Sheep (Lk 15:3-7) and the Prodigal Son (Lk 15:11-32) -- the Adyghe publication also includes several additional parables from Luke and Matthew: the Persistent Widow (Lk 18:2-8), the Sower and the Seed (Mt 13: 3-8, 18-23), the Unmerciful Servant (Mt 18:23-35), the Workers in the Vineyard (Mt 20:1-16), and the Talents (Mt 25:14-30).
Adyghe belongs to the Abkhaz-Adyghe language family of Caucasian languages. There are 117,500 speakers, most of whom live in the Republic of Adyghea in southern Russia.
In preparation for the future publication of the Pentateuch in Adyghe, the book of Deuteronomy was recently released in advance in electronic form, and now it is also in printed form. The first two books of the Pentateuch were printed 2005 (Genesis) and 2015 (Exodus), while Leviticus and Numbers are still in the translation process.
IBT is happy to announce the release of a bilingual edition of Ecclesiastes in Adyghe and Kabardian, closely-related languages of the North Caucasus in the Russian Federation.
First, a little history. The official classification of Adyghe and Kabardian as separate languages appeared in 1922, when the Adyghe (Cherkess) and Karachay-Cherkess autonomous regions were formed inside the USSR. Until that time, the two languages were considered to be dialects of a single Circassian language. Over the past century, Adyghe and Kabardian have each developed independently (especially in their written forms), but some speakers of Adyghe and Kabardian still feel that they belong to the same language community. The Ecclesiastes publication was born out of a desire to preserve and develop the community between these two peoples.
Good Bible translation is not a simple process. Each translated text goes through at least four drafts with various checks at each stage (exegetical checking, internal reviewing, philological editing, field-testing, consultant checking, external reviewing, etc.). But even after the translation is completed and the book has been published and delivered to the region, it still needs to be somehow distributed among its potential readers, which is not an easy task either. Distributing the Bible in areas with a predominantly Muslim population may be dangerous because many people are prejudiced against the Bible and see it as a tool of westernization or russification – a real threat to their ethnic culture and to the worldview foundations of their community.
There are about 120,000 speakers of the Adyghe language, most of whom live in the Republic of Adyghea in the northwest Caucasus region of the Russian Federation.
From 2002 to 2015 IBT published 11 Old Testament books in Adyghe: 1-2 Samuel (2002), Genesis (2005), Ruth, Esther and Jonah (2006), Psalms (2007), 1-2 Kings (2009), Exodus (2014), and Proverbs (2014, 2016). The New Testament was published in the early 1990s. Now the book of Daniel has also been published.
Good Bible translation is not a simple process. Each translated text goes through at least four drafts with various checks at each stage (exegetical checking, internal reviewing, philological editing, field-testing, consultant checking, external reviewing, etc.). But even after the translation is completed and the book has been published and delivered to the region, it still needs to be somehow distributed among its potential readers, which is not an easy task either. Distributing the Bible in areas with a predominantly Muslim population may be dangerous because many people are prejudiced against the Bible and see it as a tool of westernization or russification – a real threat to their ethnic culture and to the worldview foundations of their community.
