The Institute for Bible Translation (IBT) has published the Dargi edition of the Injil, containing six New Testament books: the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the Acts of the Apostles, and the book of Revelation. The title of this edition, Injil, is mentioned several times in the Qur'an and is familiar to readers from the Muslim tradition. This word is the Arabic equivalent of the Greek word "Evangelion" and means “Good News”.
The Dargis are the second largest ethnic group in the Republic of Dagestan, constituting about 16.5% of the republic's population. The Dargi language (with 485,705 speakers in Russia) belongs to the Nakh-Dagestanian family of North Caucasian languages. Dargis traditionally adhere to Sunni Islam...
The Institute for Bible Translation (IBT) has released a new publication in Dargi, one of the official languages of the Republic of Dagestan in the Russian Federation. Newspapers, journals, and books are published in this language, and it is studied in school in areas with a large Dargi population. There are altogether about 485,000 speakers of Dargi in Russia.
According to the 2010 census of Russia, there are 485,705 speakers of Dargi. There are a number of Dargi dialects, with the literary dialect being taught in most schools in traditionally Dargi regions. Books, newspapers, magazines, and a regional theater all use this literary dialect, so it was chosen as the language of the Bible translation project.
Previously, IBT published the Gospel of Mark (2002, 2007), the Gospel of Luke (2010), the Gospel of Matthew (2013), and a collection of Gospel Parables (2017) in Dargi. For the translation of Ruth, Esther, and Jonah, a new translator joined the project.
What is needed to become a Bible translator? Among very small ethnic groups that speak an endangered language, sometimes it is enough to simply have a good command of one’s mother tongue, even if it is only the spoken form of the language. But for larger languages with a well-developed literary tradition, IBT’s translators are usually professionals in the spheres of linguistics or literature. Such is the situation in IBT’s Dargi (or Dargwa) project. The team presently consists of two translators and a third, potential translator, all of them specialists in their language. But professional language interest alone is not what leads someone from a different religious tradition into a project to translate the Bible. What motivates those who become Bible translators to choose this path?
IBT has published an illustrated edition of “Parables from the Gospel of Luke” in the Dargi language.
The Dargi people live primarily in the Republic of Dagestan (Caucasus region of southern Russia). With a population of about 590,000, they comprise about 16% of the total population of Dagestan and are the second largest ethnic group there. Most live in the mountainous and foothill areas of central Dagestan.
What is needed to become a Bible translator? Among very small ethnic groups that speak an endangered language, sometimes it is enough to simply have a good command of one’s mother tongue, even if it is only the spoken form of the language. But for larger languages with a well-developed literary tradition, IBT’s translators are usually professionals in the spheres of linguistics or literature. Such is the situation in IBT’s 