How do we know if we’re making progress in Bible translation? Translation agencies have answered that question by counting. languages – languages with a translation versus those without. If the number with a translation increases, we’re making progress. In fact, I just presented those numbers in detail using jars of M&Ms, each M&M representing one language.
The jar on the far left has 736 M&Ms – the number of languages with the whole Bible. The next (going right) has 1658 – the number of languages with only the New Testament. Then 1264 language with at least one book of the Bible. Next, 1320 languages with translation work started but none yet published and finally 1268 with no part of the Bible published. These are impressive numbers. 3,589 languages have some or all of the Bible (the first three jars), compared to 1268 with nothing.
We can also track how these numbers change from year to year. From 2022 to 2023 the number of languages with some published Scripture increased by 69 and the number still needing translation work decreased by over 400.
That’s progress!
Heart Language 