At the beginning of February IBT held a seminar in our office in Moscow for the purpose of introducing IBT's work to new workers and potential future workers. Participants came from various parts of Russia, including Altai, Yakutia, the Nenets Autonomous Region and the Northern Caucasus.

Over the course of several days, seminar participants were introduced to topics that are important for translation team members to know well in their work with IBT: the structure and history of the Old and New Testaments, the historical and cultural context of the Bible, exegesis, translation theory, linguistic analysis, field testing, etc.  Besides lectures, the program also included an overview of the step-by-step process in IBT's translation work, practical assignments, and a brief consultant checking session (demonstrated by the Kumyk translation team).  The lectures and assignments were given both by IBT staff members and invited specialists in Biblical studies. It is our sincere hope that this seminar will give new translation team members a good foundation as they begin working in IBT's projects to bring the Word of God to the peoples of Russia and the CIS.