Monday, October 28, 2013

A few numbers to think about

How much of an impact does technology have on Bible translation? You might think, all the money that is put towards tech could just be used to finish Bible translation. Well, here are a few numbers to think about.
Not long ago the average Bible translation took twenty to thirty years or more to complete. Wycliffe Associates began distributing BTAK or Bible translation acceleration kits. These have a power source like solar; computers with translation software and a communication source like a bgan (satellite communication to allow for e-mail.) Translation projects with a BTAK now average about eight to twelve years to complete.
The cost of the average Bible translation was about a million dollars. Translations with a BTAK average about One hundred and eighty thousand dollars.

To sum up
20-30 years to finish a project compared to 8-12 years
$1,000,000 to finish a project  compared to $180,000

The end result is people get access to Bible translations in their own language faster. I am fortunate enough to help deploy these BTAK units to national translation teams. I will be headed to the Democratic Republic of Congo in a few weeks to deploy several of these BTAK units. Please pray that the translation teams who receive these will be blessed by them.


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