Over the past thirty years, scholars have made significant advances in understanding how human communication functions. They have moved from looking for meaning in texts alone to seeing texts as providing clues that lead hearers to discover the speaker’s intended meaning. Hearers use other inputs as well—things they already know, information from the speech environment—as they search to understand not only what the words of the text say but also what the speaker is communicating. All this has significant implications for Bible translation. Bible Translation Basics accomplishes two things: 1) it expresses these theoretical developments in communication at a basic level in non-technical language, and 2) it applies these developments to the task of Bible translation in very practical ways. Tried and tested around the world, people with a secondary school education or higher are able to understand how communication works and apply those insights to communicating Scripture to their audiences. Bible Translation Basics helps translators work with language communities to determine the kind of Scripture product(s) that are most relevant for them, given their abilities and preferences.

This book is intended to be used in courses or workshops for people involved in communicating Scripture across languages and cultures. The primary audience is Bible translators, but those who review translations and those who develop other Scriptures products will also find it helpful. Over the past thirty years, scholars have made significant advances in understanding how human communication functions. They have moved from looking for meaning in texts alone to seeing texts as providing clues that lead hearers to discover the speaker's intended meaning. Bible Translation Basics accomplishes two things: 1) it expresses these theoretical developments in communication at a basic level in non-technical language, and 2) it applies these developments to the task of Bible translation in very practical ways.

Bible Translation Basics will help translators work with language communities to determine the kind of Scripture product(s) that are most relevant for them, given their abilities and preferences. Scholars over the past thirty years have made significant advances in understanding how human communication functions. Rather than solely looking for meaning in texts alone, texts are now seen to provide clues to hearers so that they can discover the speaker's intended meaning. Hearers use other inputs as well, such as things they already know and information from the speech environment, in order to understand not only what the words of the text say, but also what the speaker is communicating with those words. The significant implications of this for Bible Translation are the subject of this new book. Bible Translation Basics accomplishes two things: 1) it expresses these developments in communication theory at a basic level in non-technical language, and 2) it applies these developments to the task of Bible translation in very practical ways. The content of this book has been tried and tested around the world, and will aid people with a secondary school education or higher to understand how communication works and to apply those insights to communicating Scripture to their audiences.

This book provides a practical and easy-to-understand introduction to acoustic speech analysis, primarily aimed at those involved in linguistic analysis and description in the field and at those preparing for such fieldwork. It explains commonly used methods for displaying aspects of a speech wave, such as waveform graphs, spectra, spectrograms, fundamental frequency graphs (pitch graphs), and intensity graphs. It illustrates how the results of acoustic analysis can be interpreted and used to improve the objectivity, accuracy and precision of phonetic descriptions of speech sounds. The book assumes basic knowledge of articulatory phonetics. It can be used to teach introductory courses in acoustic phonetics at the undergraduate level.

Bible Translation: An Introductory Course in Translation Principles continues to provide crucial, practical training for those preparing to translate the Bible or contribute to Bible translation in other ways. The fourth edition of this classic textbook is a leading voice in addressing the following developments in the Bible translation world: The priority of oral communication and its value in drafting, testing, and polishing draft translations. The availability of software and online resources specifically designed for Bible translation; exercises and assignments include practice in the use of these resources. The increase in Old Testament translation projects worldwide; more examples and exercises from the Old Testament are included. The value of partnership and teamwork in translation projects, recognizing the different gifts, skills, and roles of those involved, helping each team member to serve effectively as a member of a team. The involvement of local churches and community in the translation process; planning for local responsibility, ownership and sustainability as fully as possible in each translation project. The importance of ongoing training for translators, including training translators to train others and preparing capable translators to serve as translation consultants in due time. The materials are designed for the classroom but are also suitable for self-study, for example, by those who are already qualified in biblical languages and exegetical skills and are training as translation consultants. A companion Teacher's Manual is also available. Documents, references, and links to videos and other published works can be found online at: publications.sil.org/bibletranslation_additionalmaterials. Bible Translation: An Introductory Course in Translation Principles has previously been translated in whole or in part into French, Hindi, Indonesian, Kannada, Malagasy, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Portuguese, Russian, Slovak, Spanish, Swahili, Tamil, and Telugu. For information on translation or repbublishing, contact: sil.org/resources/publications/about/contact.

David Dewey offers an easy-to-use handbook for digging through the mountain of Bible translation options until you find the right Bible for the right purpose.

Given the wealth of English translations of the Bible available today, how can anyone know which is the right one for them? The options seem overwhelming. Biblical scholar Ron Rhodes provides an easy-to-read guide that takes the guesswork out of choosing a Bible. He critiques the prominent theories of translation, lets readers in on the debate about gender-inclusive language, and thoroughly covers the major English translations from the King James Version to the New Living Translation and everything in between, including the two most recent Bibles for Catholics. His examination of each version includes the story behind the translation the translation theory used the intended readership pluses and minuses comparisons with other translations A unique feature is Rhodes' look at secondary factors to keep in mind when choosing a Bible, such as the type size, the quality of the paper, the existence and placement of cross references and other study helps, and the types of bindings. The result is an indispensable guide to help readers through the maze of choosing the translation best suited for them.