IBT staff in Moscow recently completed an almost month-long project to finish the audio recording of the New Testament in the Khakas language of south Siberia. The Gospels were recorded in Khakas in 2008. The full NT was published only in 2009, and this was the first opportunity to complete the recording of Acts through Revelation.

Galina Litvinenko, a professional journalist and experienced television announcer, has worked with IBT as a translator and editor on the Khakas NT and considers this recording to be an important step in supporting the vitality of the Khakas language.  "While recording this text, I think of my friends out in the village who only speak Khakas to one another. I read it in such a way that it would be easily understood by them," said Galina during the recording process. Her sisters, Klara and Tatyana, both professional linguists and Khakas language specialists, assisted Galina with the recording by listening to her reading in order to ensure accuracy. IBT was also aided in this recording project by Hosanna/Faith Comes by Hearing, which provided technical expertise in producing the script and will help to master the recording.

"As I read our translation aloud, I myself am starting to understand it in a different way; many things are becoming clearer and more connected for me," Galina noted. She believes that reading the translated text aloud is a very good way of catching inaccuracies in the translation, since auditory perception immediately picks up on elements that may look good on paper but are not natural for spoken language.  Upon returning to her native Khakassia, Galina plans on informing the local newspaper about this project in hopes that it will publish an article about the recording and thereby interest potential listeners. She also hopes that this audio recording will be read aloud during weekly Khakas-language radio broadcasts, just as the IBT Children's Bible in the Gagauz language was read on Gagauz radio.