IBT held a translation workshop on two of the Minor Prophets via Zoom on June 11-18. This was the first time in IBT’s history that one of our workshops has been conducted as a webinar.

The online format of this workshop was necessitated by the coronavirus pandemic and the related quarantine measures. Nevertheless, its advantages quickly became apparent. Many IBT translators are university instructors, and for them, June is traditionally a very busy time, full of summer courses and entrance exams. Translation team members who would not have been able to come to Moscow for a face-to-face seminar were still able to find time in their busy academic schedules for full participation in the virtual workshop.

On October 9-17, the Institute for Bible Translation held a workshop on Minor Prophets Translation Issues. It was attended by translation teams from eleven language groups (Adyghe, Avar, Balkar, Erzya, Kabardian, Kumyk, Kyrgyz, Mari, Tabasaran, Tajik, and Yakut). The discussion was headed by IBT consultant Andrei Desnitsky and by Yevgeniy Shved, the exegetical advisor in several of IBT's translation projects. The workshop focused on the text and translation issues of three minor prophets (Zephaniah, Joel, Haggai).

How should a translator approach the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, called “Torah” in Hebrew? How does one begin the translation of this foundational part of the Old Testament? How can translators avoid getting buried under the many minute details in the ancient text that modern readers are usually not aware of? How can one find the spiritual and meaning core of these texts? Without a doubt, any translator of the Pentateuch must face these questions.

In June 4-8, 2018, in the city of Nalchik, the Institute for Bible Translation held a seminar on "Translation of the Holy Scripture in Caucasian Languages: Scripture Engagement Stage". The seminar was attended by 30 participants from 9 IBT translation projects, namely Adyghe, Balkar, Dargi, Kabardian, Karachai, Ingush, Lak, Lezgi and Tabasaran.

How does one translate in such a way that the information relevant in one culture at a certain time would be communicated with the same relevance in a different culture at a different time? What does one need to be mindful of in order to impact a contemporary audience in the same way that the original audience was impacted? What Biblical materials are relevant for a particular audience?