Re: most widely translated book?

From: McKay family (music@fl.net.au)
Date: Thu Aug 21 1997 - 21:06:28 EDT


Mari asks:
>
> Is there a reference someone can point me to, which is citable as
> saying the bible is the world's most translated work?

The 1994 edition of the United Bible Societies' "Scriptures of the World"
states that it is "a compilation of the 2,092 languages in which one book
of the Bible has been published since the Bible was first printed [in
Latin] by Johann Gutenberg."

On page 6 there is a chart which shows that the Bible has been published in
341 languages, the New Testament in 822 languages, and at least one book of
the Bible in 2092 languages.

I can't find any information about how many languages other books have been
translated into, but I have never heard anyone challenge the claim that the
Bible has been translated into many more languages than any other book.

The book has a statistical summary in world languages according to
geographical distribution.

The Book of a Thousand Tongues is out of date [1972] but still fascinating.

In BOATT, you get a photograph of a small portion [usually the first few
verses of Mark] of every language in which the Bible had been translated up
to 1972. I never knew there were so many different scripts!

Both books are in short supply:the Bible Society loaned me copies for a few
weeks.

David McKay
music@fl.net.au



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