Albanian translation project makes good progress

ALBANIA — When representatives of the British and Foreign Bible Society (BFBS) arrived in Albania in the early nineteenth century, they immediately recognised the need to supply its people with God’s Word in their own language. “The furnishing of the Albanians with a New Testament, at least, in their own language is an object highly worthy of the attention of the BFBS,” they wrote.

Translators at work on the new interconfessional translation of the New Testament into Albanian. Photo: IBSA (ALB05DJ-10.JPG)

Today, as Albania struggles with many social, economic and political challenges, that need is no less acute. This is why the production of a new interconfessional translation of the New Testament, a replacement for older translations that are no longer suitable, has been one of the Interconfessional Bible Society of Albania’s (IBSA) main projects over the last few years.

Firm foundations

The Se Bashku (‘Together’) project, a collaborative venture between IBSA and the Eastern Orthodox, Protestant and Roman Catholic Churches, began with a year of training in New Testament Greek for the young translators who had been recruited to make up the project team (see World Report 380/20). That year set the project on very firm foundations, and since then the translators have been making steady progress, meeting together weekly to pray and discuss issues of concern, and receiving regular visits from United Bible Societies staff.

Free to prisoners

The full New Testament is due to be published in 2006, but the project has started to bear fruit already. Earlier this year, IBSA distributed 200 copies of the new translation of the Gospel of John at a conference organised in Albania by the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES). The translation was received very enthusiastically, and the Society believes that its links with IFES will open the doors for further distribution of Scriptures to students across the country.

This Gospel is also being distributed free of charge to prisoners through prison authorities and Christians who work with prisoners.

And it is not just a New Testament that will result from this project: IBSA is linking with the Bible Society in Italy to produce 15,000 copies of a diglot Italian-Albanian Gospel of John based on the new translation. This will be distributed to the many Albanians who have moved to Italy in search of employment, and could be the first of several such publications designed for Albanians living outside the country. For the translation community, the project will also yield a Greek-Albanian New Testament dictionary, a guide to learning New Testament Greek and a guide to interconfessional translation work. (WR 394/11 - 07.05) [1 photo]