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.

The Laks are one of the indigenous peoples of Dagestan. Their language belongs to the Nakh-Dagestanian group of languages and is spoken by around 146,000 people. It is one of the 14 official languages of Dagestan. A newspaper is published in Lak and Dagestan radio broadcasts programs in Lak.

The Institute for Bible Translation’s Gospel Parables series began in 2007 with the Agul language edition, followed in 2015-2020 with the addition of versions in Bezhta, Tatar, Rutul, Tsakhur, Dargi, Dungan, Kumyk, Nogai, Kabardian, Even, Digor and Nenets...

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.

The Tsakhur people are indigenous to the Caucasus region, historically residing in southern Dagestan and northern Azerbaijan (about 25,000 people in all, according to censuses taken in 2009 and 2010). They profess Sunni Islam. Their language belongs to the Lezgic family of the Nakh-Dagestanian group of North Caucasian languages.