MAY 2026 Translation News

Google Link to the PDF MAY 2026 Translation Newsletter

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Extracted text from 05_May_2026_TransNews.pdf:

SIL Translation Services (STS) works in collaboration with colleagues in SIL and other agencies to creatively steward and advance the translation practices, tools, methods, and training necessary to enable a supportive environment for individuals and communities to flourish and engage with Scripture. We value: Interconnectedness. Capacity Building. Diversity. Innovation.

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May 2026 A Completely New Direction - Jonathan van den Broek Thoughts on Diaspora - Swapna Alexander FOBAI 2026 Report - Phil King & Kris Toler Auto-translate Feature for TW Users - Paul O'Rear Alpha 2 - an AI Initiative - Viji Mathew Oral Translation Services - Kris Toler La exégesis conversacional y la multimodalidad May 2026 OBT Reading Group New Staff - Oral Translation Services - Rachel Hurley New Translation Consultants Bruce Taylor Coombe - AsiaPacific Josh Carter - AsiaPacific David Justice - AsiaPacific Jeff Shrum - Africa Paulian Petric - EurAsia Isaac M - EurAsia & Africa Coleen B - EurAsia & Africa Interviews with Translation Consultants - Stephen Payne (Seed Company) Bible Translation Brief History - Tatar - Michael Greed AI & Translation Spot - Kenya Scripture Forge Workshop - Jeff Webster News Greek Grammar Video & Book - Michael & Rachel Aubrey New Book: William Tyndale and the English Language - David Crystal FLExTrans Workshops - Emily Havens Knowing Me, Knowing You - Sharon Merz JCBT Hebrew Courses - Bob Carter Coming Events Is Relevance Theory still Relevant? Global CoP for BT Consultants. (May 2026) Online Pre-EMDC Scripture Forge training (May 2026) Thailand EMDC (May 2026) Thailand Asia TCDW (June-July 2026) Taste of FLExTrans (July 2026) Online "What is a word?" Anthropology insights into communication theory and what this means for Bible translation. Global CoP for BT Consultants. (Aug 2026) Online

Taste of FLExTrans (Sep 2026) Online Oral Bible Translation Consultant Workshop (Sep 2026) South Africa Greek linguistics. Global CoP for BT Consultants. (Nov 2026) Online Translation Development Event (Nov 2026) EurAsia SBL Global Bible Translation Studies (Nov 2026) Denver Bible Translation Conference (Oct 2027) Cape Town, South Africa

Useful Links SIL Translation Services International Leadership Team Area Translation Coordinators

A Completely New Direction Jonathan van den Broek - Translation Domain Leader (Africa) For the next few months our newsletter will begin with members of the Global Translation Community of Leadership sharing what motivates them to be involved in Bible translation. This month we hear from Jonathan.

There are moments when God does something in our lives that sets us in a completely new direction. For me, that moment occurred while I was a physicist working in a hospital in the UK and I took time off for a mission trip to Niger. While there, I attended a Bible study where a group of people were studying the Scriptures in a language that was not their first language. As a mother-tongue English speaker, I had always taken for granted the ease with which I could read the Bible. I never had to contend with a language barrier just to understand the words. But as I watched the people in this group struggling to engage with the text in a second language, I saw how this was a barrier to their connecting with God’s word and growing in their faith. At that moment I realised that my own experience was a privilege, not a universal reality. I felt God calling me to be a part of the answer for people like them—those who had no option but to study the Word in a foreign language. Since then, this calling has been reinforced time and again as I have heard or read testimonies of those who have finally seen the Bible in their own language. I’m sure you will all have read words like these:

“This Bible has greatly simplified our ability to understand. The issue of language has been a problem but now that we have a translation, people’s faith will be strengthened more than before.” “Our identity is in our language. To understand God, we need to read his word and to study it in our language. Reading the Bible will change our minds, our lives, and the destinies of us Roma people.” One church leader, upon his congregation receiving the Scriptures, told them: “You have no more excuse not to read the Bible! Now it’s in your language.” I heard a beautiful testimony first-hand from Bao, a friend of my wife’s and mine, who came to England to study at university. She had never heard of the Bible before, but studying it in English she eventually became a Christian. When she returned home and got a copy of the Bible in her own language she wrote saying:

“It is actually like reading a whole new book. I discover many things that I have missed in English. It is like seeing things in colourful pictures - not just in black and white… When God speaks in our soul’s language, it’s simply different. I can hardly explain why. Even though I have been a Christian for 3 years, I now find myself like a new-born person again: with an authentic identity.”

This is the heart of why I am involved in the work of Bible translation. We aren't just translating words, we are unlocking God’s word. It remains my greatest joy to play a part in ensuring that everyone has the chance to see the Scriptures clearly and “in colourful pictures” as Bao does.

Thoughts on Diaspora Swapna Alexander - Global Translation Consultant Coordinator, Faith Comes by Hearing Swapna shared this devotion at the FOBAI 2026 Annual Meeting, focused on 'Meeting People's Scripture Needs in Diaspora Contexts', and we thought you might appreciate her valuable perspectives on diaspora, displacement and the Bible.

A few years ago, my family moved from India to halfway across the world to live in the US. For us, this was a choice, but for many around the world, mobility is not an adventure. It is survival. It is loss. It is separation. It is uncertainty. It is carrying memory, grief, language, and identity across borders. From Genesis to Revelation, Scripture is full of journeys, exile, flight, wandering, return, scattering, gathering, crossing, resettling, and waiting for home. The Bible is not a book written from stability. It is a book shaped in movement, pain, and dislocation. In Genesis 12, Abram is called: “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.” The story of faith begins, in one sense, with a migrant. The people of God begin as people called into uncertainty, and trust. Scripture reminds us that God’s covenant can travel. God’s promise can travel. God’s word can travel. One of the most repeated ethical foundations in the Old Testament is this: “Remember that you were foreigners in Egypt.” Israel’s core memory is refugee memory. Israel is told, again and again, to care for the foreigner, the vulnerable, the widow, the orphan, because their own identity was shaped by displacement. When life is fractured, people not only need information. They need language for lament, fear, memory, hope, and trust. They need words that can carry pain before God. As the world around us pushes us to be self-reliant and to get back on our feet, somewhere along the way we have forgotten the power of lament. Pouring our heart out to God, bearing our thoughts before him, asking, “How long, oh God!” The Psalms do that. So do women like Yulia. She had to leave her home when the war in Ukraine started. One of her daughters died and the other is severely injured. As she takes care of her daughter, she listens to the audio Bible someone gave her. She learns it is okay to grieve; it is okay to ask questions to God, it is okay to cry. She also learns that God collects her tears in a bottle, He knows what it is to be displaced and rejected. When God chose to place himself among us, He placed himself among the vulnerable, among the threatened, among the displaced. Jesus was born into a politically tense world. He knew what it is to be carried across borders for safety. Later in his ministry, Jesus himself is constantly on the move. He had “nowhere to lay his head.” He travelled from village to village. He met people on roads, at wells, by shorelines, in homes, in open fields. He is the Messiah on the move, meeting people where they are. We celebrated his resurrection a couple of weeks ago. The risen Christ walked with the confused and grieving, on the way to Emmaus. He interpreted Scripture while walking. And when the Holy Spirit came, the mighty works of God were heard in many languages. Pentecost did not erase linguistic diversity. It dignified it.

When people on the go hear God’s Word in their language, it provides them a shelter, a spiritual shelter. They realize that God has not forgotten them. We are not serving abstract “target audiences.” We are serving people beloved by God. People whose stories echo the stories of Scripture. People whom Christ is not ashamed to be identified with. So, what does this mean to us as practitioners of Bible translation?

1. It gives us reverence/respect for the people we serve
2. It gives us humility. Because displaced communities often hear parts of the Bible more sharply than settled people do. We must not only bring Scripture to them. We must also let them help us hear Scripture better.
3. It gives us creativity. If people are on the move, then our methods may need to move too. How do we serve dispersed communities? How do we serve oral communities? How do we serve communities split across borders? How do we serve people whose literacy patterns are changing?
4. It gives us compassion. Because good translation work is not less than technical —it is more than technical. We are not only asking, “Is this accurate?” We are also asking, “How will this land in the lives of wounded people?” “How will this be heard by someone in grief?” “How will this sound to a child growing up between languages?” “How will this help a community remember who they are before God?” Maybe we are tired, maybe we feel hurried, maybe our resources are stretched too thin. Let us remember that the God we serve is not hurried. And the word we serve has a long history of traveling through fragile circumstances. Let us continue to be faithful in small things. A displaced speaker listened to with dignity. A minority language treated with honor. A checked verse. A corrected phrase. A review session held patiently. A recorded story. A Scripture song. Because this is the life-giving bread for people on the road. The Bible begins with movement. It contains a great deal of wandering and waiting. But it does not end there. It ends with home. It ends with God dwelling with his people. Tears wiped away. Nations healed. A city open and secure. The glory of the nations brought in. Multitudes gathered. Languages not destroyed but gathered into worship. And until that day, the God of Scripture continues to meet people on the go.

FOBAI 2026 Report Phil King & Kris Toler In April, Phil and Kris attended the Forum of Bible Agencies International (FOBAI) 2026 Annual Meeting in Dallas. It was focused on "Meeting People’s Scripture Needs Today Amongst Diaspora Populations", and was preceded by a day-long meeting of the Translation Development Group. Translation Development Group (TDG) There were around 50 people in the TDG this year, representing different FOBAI organisations and others investigating membership (such as Beyond Translation). It was led by Eshinee Veith (Lutheran Bible Translators) and the primary focus was the revision of the FOBAI Basic Principles and Procedures (BP&P), which have been largely unchanged for over 20 years. Small table discussions were held on several "current realities" that the current document does not sufficiently address, building on an analysis of these areas provided by the Seed Company. A few of those realities that stood out are:

Technology and AI: There is no mention of AI in the current BP&P, but it is being used more and more in Bible translation. What are the recommended procedures? The small group felt that while tools like AI can assist in drafting, guidelines should emphasize that human translators must still direct the process and own the final draft. Multimodality: The current principles only talk about multimodality with reference to different formats for Scripture products, but in today’s world, oral and signed translation processes are becoming common. The principles should address how Scripture is developed in multiple modes (oral, visual, written) from the start, rather than focusing only on end-product distribution. Church Agency: The current principles frame translation as fundamentally an activity controlled by translation agencies (it is, after all, a document of the Forum of Bible Agencies). Today, there is a move toward a posture of "coming alongside" the church, recognizing them as agents of translation rather than subjects of projects controlled by outside agencies, and the principles need to be reframed in this light. Principles for Sign Language Translation: Currently the BP&P includes specific guidelines for Sign Language translation after the more general principles and procedures. It was great to have significant Deaf representation in the discussion groups, and an opportunity to start thinking about how the Sign Language principles should be represented in the revision. The development group only allowed time to begin the discussion and capture some initial thoughts. We ended the meeting with a proposal to meet regularly online over the year ahead, to delve further into each of the relevant issues. Annual Meeting: Meeting People’s Scripture Needs Today Amongst Diaspora Populations. Keynote speaker Dr. Sam George reminded us that "Christianity is diasporic at its core", as picked up also in the devotion from Swapna Alexander, shared above. A key takeaway from all the discussions was the need to value diaspora communities in and of themselves— recognizing their unique Scripture needs and contributions—rather than viewing them merely as instruments to reach their homelands. The meeting consisted of various plenary talks followed by table discussions. My notes from the sessions highlighted a couple of strategic insights about diaspora populations and their needs: Generational Gaps: While the first generation acts as "culture keepers," the second and third generations often navigate hybrid identities and language shifts. Addressing these gaps is vital, as some diaspora churches report near-zero retention among younger generations. Fragmentation vs. Connection: Resources for diaspora ministry often exist but are fragmented. Agencies should act as "connectors, mappers, and catalysts" to link these existing efforts into a cohesive strategy. Presentations, such as one on engaging the Ethiopian and Eritrean diaspora, highlighted that diaspora communities are vital partners. It was also fascinating to hear a detailed report from SIL’s Global Diaspora Services unit about the success they have had in locating specific diaspora communities, and the methods they used to do this. With the rapid increase in global

mobility and connectivity, recognizing and supporting the diaspora will profoundly reshape Bible translation and Christian mission in the years ahead - so it was very helpful to have this focus for our meetings this year. How has your experience of diaspora populations shaped your work? We’d love to hear your stories!

Auto-translate Feature for TW Users Paul O'Rear Translator’s Workplace (TW) is getting a big boost. Have you ever wished you could provide your team with some commentary information on the book your team is translating but the information is only in English? I’m sure you have. A little over a year ago or so, Logos added a fantastic new feature that provides automatic translation of pretty much any resource you have (i.e. everything in TW, which is a lot!) to any of ~100+ languages. Unfortunately, that feature required a subscription to Logos Max or purchase of one of their base packages, which many of our users couldn’t afford.

I'm happy to announce that Seed Company has graciously provided funding for us to enable a year's access of the Autotranslate feature for our TW users. Through this arrangement, we were able to provide the feature to you all without any cost to you, or any gymnastics to get it. You should install any updates and the feature will just begin to be available for you. This first year is intended to evaluate the usefulness of the feature in our translation contexts and how it might integrate into your workflows. Each user will have up to 1000 AI credits a month to use this feature. Please provide feedback on the TW Faithlife group page (you'll need to be signed into Faithlife online, to access this page), or feel free to send me feedback directly at paul_orear@sil.org. I will be submitting quarterly reports to Seed Company on the feedback we receive.

PLEASE do not use this feature to translate content and then share it publicly. The content that is made available to us for use in TW is expressly for the purposes of Bible translation. If use and access to that content is abused, that may jeopardize our access to that content in TW from the publishers. So please use this responsibly. For information on how to use this feature, please visit this Logos page and watch the video there. Quick glimpse: Open the resource you want to translate, then pick Translate from the Tools menu and pick the target language.

Alpha2 - an AI Initiative Viji Mathew Last month I was introduced to an AI initiative from SIL known as Alpha2, which in my perspective has emerged as one of the most strategic AI developments within SIL’s language technology ecosystem, and it is a tool that merits serious attention from language engagement practitioners worldwide. Read about it: https://ai.sil.org/projects/alpha2

Try it: https://alpha2.multilingualai.com

Developed by SIL Global, Alpha2 offers AI translation and text-to-speech capabilities across more than 1,000 languages, with expanded coverage through fine-tuned models. What makes Alpha2 particularly significant is its focus on low-resource languages, drawing on SIL’s extensive experience in language data to support communities worldwide. The platform supports a wide range of input formats, including SFM, Word documents, and PowerPoint files. This makes it highly relevant not only to Scripture translation but also to the growing need to produce supplementary materials in local languages. Training resources, literacy materials, trauma-healing content, and community-based publications can all be developed more efficiently, thereby supporting Scripture with a broader ecosystem of language resources that strengthen understanding and engagement. As projects increasingly use AI-assisted drafting within Scripture Forge, where translation engines are already tuned to project-specific data, Alpha2 offers a natural extension of that data set. The same linguistic foundation can now be leveraged to generate additional content in the language, enabling teams to develop supplementary books and materials with greater consistency and speed. This creates a powerful synergy between translation and wider language engagement, enabling teams to multiply the impact of their work far beyond the primary Scripture text. In my opinion, Alpha2 offers a compelling opportunity to extend language impact while maintaining the standards and values that define our work.

Oral Translation Services Kris Toler This month’s Multimodal Bible Translation Community of Practice will be on Tuesday, May 12th at 14:00 UTC - 9:00am Dallas, 15:00 UK, 19:30 India, 21:00 Thailand. Bryan Harmelink will be sharing on "Why should I care about Multimodality?"

Whether we like it or not, the term multimodality is probably going to stay with us for a while. But what does it mean? In the first part of his presentation, Bryan will describe what multimodality refers to and discuss potential benefits it offers to our understanding of communication and translation.

In part two, he will present some practical implications of multimodality for translation. This will focus on conversational and holistic processes of exegesis, translation, and quality assurance in Bible translation. If you have not yet signed up for the EMDC Academy platform you can do so by visiting the following link https://emdc.academy/landing/30 and clicking the "subscribe to this series" button. La exégesis conversacional y la multimodalidad - La Comunidad de Práctica de la Traducción Multimodal de la Bíblia este mes será el miércoles 13 de mayo a las 9:00 horas de México, 10:00 de Colombia y 12:00 de Brasil. Bryan Harmelink compartirá "¿Por qué debería importarme la multimodalidad? Nos guste o no, es probable que el término «multimodalidad» siga acompañándonos durante algún tiempo. Pero ¿qué significa? En la primera parte de su presentación, describirá en qué consiste la multimodalidad y analizará los posibles beneficios que ofrece para nuestra comprensión de la comunicación y la traducción. En la segunda parte, expondrá algunas implicaciones prácticas de la multimodalidad para la traducción. Le centrará en los procesos conversacionales y holísticos de la exégesis, la traducción y la evaluación de calidad en la traducción de la Biblia. Ven preparado para explorar este fascinante tema con nosotros. Por favor, comparte esto con cualquiera que creas que pueda estar interesado en el tema. Aquí está el enlace para la reunión. Esperamos veros el 13 de mayo. OBT Reading Group for May - This month’s OBT Reading group will meet on May 29th at 08:00 CST, 09:00 Dallas, 14:00 UTC, 19:30 India, and 21:00 Thailand time. We will be reading "Translating and Performing Psalm 133 Using Oral Bible Translation and Local Genres" by Bronwen Cleaver and Justin Randolph. As I mentioned previously, the editorial staff of The Bible Translator Journal has graciously given permission for us to share the article for the purpose of this discussion group. It cannot be shared with people who are not participating in the group. Please respect this limitation and do not share the article with others. If you know someone who would like to participate in the reading group send them my way and I can add them to the list. I will send the article out to the Reading Group mailing list. I am really looking forward to the discussion. Here is the Zoom link for the session: https://sil.zoom.us/j/99964509859

New Staff - Oral Translation Services Rachel Hurley As Oral Bible Translation (OBT) continues to grow within the wider Bible Translation movement, we in Oral Translation Services recognize the need to develop resources to support those who are working in this area.

With this in mind we have started an oral training team that will focus on developing curriculum and resources to support oral strategies in Bible Translation. We are also working to build capacity to have trainers who can teach the materials that are developed through this team. Please email me (Kris Toler), if you are interested in being a part of the team in either a parttime or full-time role. We are excited to introduce Rachel Hurley, as the newest member of the oral training team. She joins the team bringing many years of experience working with oral Bible storying and supporting Oral Bible Translation in various countries. She has served with SIL and partnering organizations for over 20 years, supporting people in multiple Asian countries in various

domains. She has come alongside others as they discover for themselves what works best in their own setting. She gets excited watching them create ideas, choose what works well, apply what they learn and then teach others! Rachel and her husband and their very active preschooler are based now in the US as they support her aging parents with health needs. She loves having daily devotions with her family, especially telling the Bible stories. Her parents did this when she was a child and they now do this with their own family. Telling, acting out, drawing or even singing Bible stories has been a big part of how God has helped her grow throughout her lifetime. So, Rachel loves to watch others find ways that help them connect with God through His Word, too!

New Translation Consultants Bruce Taylor Coombe, Josh Carter, David Justice, Jeff Shrum, Paulian Petric, Isaac M, Coleen B

Bruce Taylor Coombe - AsiaPacific

Congratulations to Bruce Taylor Coombe (AsiaPacific) working with SIL Solomon Islands (SITAG), on completing all requirements for certification as a Translation Consultant by SIL Global. His primary mentor was James Ashley, Senior Translation Consultant SIL Solomons. Kwang-Ju Cho, on behalf of the SIL AsiaPacific Consultant Certification Committee has verified that he is a qualified Translation Consultant, able to work independently with teams. Kwang-Ju says: We look forward to your continued contributions and the expertise you bring to translation teams. We are confident that your leadership and "active listening" approach will continue to foster excellence and support the vital work of making the Scriptures accessible in the languages the communities value most. Taylor initially completed an SIL Solomons Consultant training course in 2014, but working remotely meant that he wasn’t able to complete the process then. He successfully completed the Asia TCDW in 2021, and finalised his practical component in 2024. Like other Translation Advisors in the Pacific, the shortage of consultants led to significant delays in the language project he was facilitating. This was a huge motivation to complete his consultant training, in order to redress this lack. Taylor joined Wycliffe Australia in 1995, completed a Graduate Diploma in Applied Linguistics (1996) at SILA, and began working in the Solomon Islands in 1998 as a Translation Advisor to the Gela language (nlg). The Gela New Testament was dedicated in 2016, and he is currently working with the translation team to complete the Old Testament. He completed an MA in Applied Linguistics in 2022.

Taylor's translation CiT training included mentored checks with a variety of different consultants - James Lloyd-Williams, James Ashley, David Howard, Elly van Bodegraven, Alan Brown, Pat Andrews and Greg Carlson. These included languages from Bangladesh, PNG and the Solomon Islands. He is looking to apply his consultant checking skills to language projects in the Pacific, and especially the Solomon Islands. He thanks his wife, Ali and his family for their encouragement and support during the training.

Josh Carter - AsiaPacific

Congratulations to Josh Carter (Southeast Asia) working with Seed Company (SC), on completing all requirements for certification as a Translation Consultant by SIL Global. His SC supervisor, Mary Roberts, and his primary mentor, Roger Hanna, have endorsed him and the SIL Asia Bible Translation Coordination Team has verified that he is a qualified Translation Consultant, able to work independently with teams. His CiT program has been with the Seed Company Residency Program and he successfully completed the LPKP (consultant training program) in 2024. Josh completed an MA in Biblical Exegesis and Linguistics at Dallas Theological Seminary, and an MA in Applied Linguistic at Dallas International University. He is fluent in English, Bahasa Indonesia, and Solomon Islands Pijin. He began translation ministry in 2023, as a Translation Facilitator with the "L" NT translation program, a part of Kartidaya’s Robeno cluster.

David Justice - AsiaPacific

Congratulations to David Justice (AsiaPacific) working with Seed Company (SC), on completing all requirements for certification as a Translation Consultant by Seed Company. His SC supervisor, Kate French, and his primary mentor, Chuck Sneesby, have endorsed him and the SC Residency Program Team has verified that he is a qualified Translation Consultant, able to work independently with teams. After completing his PhD in New Testament (2019, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary), he and his wife, Shelly, felt called by God to use their time and talents to help with theological education and training for the global church. In the fall of 2021, they had the opportunity to teach short term with Africa Inland Mission in Marsabit, Kenya, where they felt their calling was confirmed. In 2023 David joined the Seed Company Resident CiT program. The Residency program included formal education with both in-house training and coursework through Dallas International University's Graduate Certificate for Translation Consulting. David worked with thirteen Translation Consultants and more than eleven translation teams during fourteen consulting sessions and two training workshops in South Asia and the Pacific. He benefited from the dozens of amazing resident colleagues who contributed diverse perspectives and experiences. He is thankful to all of these people and the many others who encouraged, corrected, and instructed him along the journey.

Jeff Shrum - Africa

Congratulations to Jeff Shrum (Africa) working with Seed Company (SC), on completing all requirements for certification as a Translation Consultant by Seed Company. His SC supervisor, Jim Winters, and his primary mentor, John Iseminger, have endorsed him and the SC Residency Program Team has verified that he is a qualified Translation Consultant, able to work independently with teams. Jeff completed the Asia TCDW in 2021 and speaks Portuguese. He and his wife served as translator advisor/linguists with the Takwane people in Mozambique. They and the translation team completed the New Testament plus Genesis and Exodus. They also assisted with orthography design, a small dictionary and grammar, literacy materials, and the Jesus and Genesis videos. Jeff has a B.S. in Electronics and Computer Technology (Indiana State University). He also completed the basic linguistic and translation training from GIAL/DIU. Last year he completed the Text in Context Hebrew course from the Jerusalem Center for Bible Translators.

Paulian Petric - EurAsia

Congratulations to Paulian Petric (EurAsia & Africa) working with Seed Company (SC), on completing all requirements for certification as a Translation Consultant by Seed Company. His SC supervisor, Mary Roberts, and his primary mentor, Jim, have endorsed him and the SC Residency Program Team has verified that he is a qualified Translation Consultant, able to

work independently with teams. During his journey as a consultant in training, that started in 2021, Paulian worked with projects in Central and South Asia, Anglophone and Francophone Africa. Paulian is originally from Romania and lives in Scotland. He joined Wycliffe UK & Ireland in 2015, initially as part of the staff. Working as part of the Wycliffe UK office team was an amazing experience of becoming familiar with organizational dynamics and needs in the world of Bible translation. Paulian became a member of Wycliffe UK in 2021. From October 2021, he was assigned to Seed Company as consultant in training, and in January 2023 he joined the Residency program, as part of the first cohort. He contributed to more than a dozen checking workshops (mostly in-person checking). Besides working closely with his primary mentor, Paulian benefited also from working with several other experienced consultants. His training included also courses with Dallas International University, The Jerusalem Seminary, as well as different SIL training courses (TDE, SIL Media, Mentoring). Paulian holds degrees in Theology (BA and MA) and Philology (BA), and he wrote his PhD thesis in the field of German Jewish Literature, followed by a post-doctoral research at the University of Geneva. Over the years he worked with several Christian publishing houses in Romania as translator and editor (English, German and French) – an experience that proved to be extremely valuable when moving into the field of Bible translation. Currently he is in active conversations about collaborating with translation projects in Albania and Zambia, while also exploring opportunities in Francophone Africa. Paulian is married to Adina, who works as a social worker with foster families, and they have 3 young adult children. He enjoys family walks in the Scottish hills, French podcasts and reading J.R.R. Tolkien, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and St. Augustine.

Isaac M - EurAsia & Africa Congratulations to Isaac M (EurAsia & Africa) working with Seed Company (SC), on completing all requirements for certification as a Translation Consultant by Seed Company. His SC supervisor, Kate French, and his primary mentor, Adam Shank, have endorsed him and the SC Residency Program Team has verified that he is a qualified Translation Consultant, able to work independently with teams. Isaac is Canadian and began working in Bible translation in 2023 when he joined SC. He has a Bachelor's in Linguistics and Master's in Linguistics and Translation from CanIL. His mother tongue is English and he has achieved varying levels of conversational fluency in French, Spanish, Farsi, Arabic, and Hindi/Urdu.

Coleen B - EurAsia & Africa Congratulations to Coleen B (EurAsia & Africa) working with Seed Company (SC), on completing all requirements for certification as a Translation Consultant by Seed Company. The SC Residency Program Team has verified that she has completed the requirements of the CiT Residency program, and the Seed Company Consultant Certification Committee met and approved her as a certified qualified Translation Consultant, able to work independently with teams. Coleen is Canadian and has lived in several other countries. She formerly worked as a professional secular translator and then began working in Bible translation in 2023 when she joined SC. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Translation and Linguistics, York University (Toronto) and a Master of Divinity, Covenant Seminary (St. Louis), and has taken courses at DIU. She is fluent in English, French and German, and has a moderate command of Spanish, Russian and Swedish, as well as the Biblical languages.

Interviews with Translation Consultants We asked an experienced Translation Consultant, Stephen Payne, to share his thoughts concerning his work and philosophy of ministry. Steve originally served with SIL Senegal where he completed a NT. He then served with Seed Company (SC) as a Translation Consultant on various projects. For the past twenty years he has focused on creating translator training materials and working with translation projects in South Asia. Experienced consultants have been a key organizational resource over the years, equipping and encouraging others to academic and professional excellence, while providing much needed leadership and service to many Bible translation organizations.

Stephen Payne - SC How did you get interested in Bible translation? I originally felt called to missions through the life of Jim Elliot in the book “Shadow of the Almighty.” Here was a man who was willing to give what he couldn’t keep to gain what he couldn’t lose in his desire to bring the Good News to the unreached. Then, at Multnomah University, at a missions conference, I interviewed David Cummings, Wycliffe’s International President. I asked him, Why doesn’t Wycliffe do church planting, since that is the cutting edge of missions?

His response was my next call on the path. “Steve, if you’re going to plant something, what do you need?” “Seed?” I offered. He then explained how the seed of God’s word in the heart language is what is needed to plant a church that can thrive. So obvious, but it was like a light went on. I was hooked! And it didn’t hurt that on the first day of my SIL training in Oregon in 1986, I met a pretty girl in the registration line – who has now been my wife and partner in the ministry for 39 years! What gets you excited when you work with others in Bible translation? I love training new teams of national translators on how to translate the Bible in their language. And I love consultant checking Scripture so that it can go out and impact the lives of people in their heart language. What is your consulting philosophy? I want the text to be as clear to today’s audience as it was to the original audience. I credit Katy Barnwell for my translation philosophy (accurate, clear, natural, and acceptable). Katy and I worked closely together in the early years of the Luke Partnership workshops. She also heavily impacted my consulting philosophy. I want to come alongside the team (not over them) and work together to improve the text. What translation resources do you really value? By far, my favorite exegetical resource is Translator’s Notes. It not only explains the meaning in simple language and gives exegetical recommendations, but it also has great ideas for how teams might consider rendering key terms and difficult passages (and Translators Display is a companion gold mine, which often has helpful ideas regarding implicit information that might need to be made explicit). I value a number of meaning-based versions in English (NLT, GNT, CEV, NIrV, NCV, EASY), which can help give teams ideas on how to make the text clear and natural in their language, for things like figures of speech, unknown ideas, breaking up long sentences, logical relations, etc. Finally, I find it extremely valuable to add related-language back translations to my text collection box in Paratext. Other teams in the same language family who have already wrestled through issues often provide good, natural solutions that aren’t seen in International versions or even LWCs. What helps you continue to grow as a consultant? Lots of things, but here are a few. Bob Carter (senior OT Translation Consultant) and I are good friends. We often joke with each other, but we also write to each other on serious issues, critically evaluating new ideas, sharing back and forth, iron sharpening iron. And then in my family, my wife Laura is a translation consultant, as well as my daughter Nika and my son-in-law Nick. So whenever we sit down for a meal, guess what topic often comes up?! And then I learn from myself as well, as funny as that may sound. When I check Scripture with a team, for every verse, I always look at my notes from past checks with other teams. Maybe it’s because I’m getting old, but at times this helps me see an issue I might have skipped, as well as a potential solution. How do you share your translation discoveries with others? My wife and I regularly send out updates to our supporters and churches, and we often include interesting translation examples we run across while checking with teams. I’ve been on staff at TCDW for a number of years and have been able to share a lot of what I’ve learned with the next generation of consultants. And then I’ve done a few papers at the BT Conferences. What are your top tips for someone starting on a career path in Bible translation? Always maintain the attitude of a learner. No matter how far you go down the path, there will always be more to learn. We can always sharpen our skills.

Share something that you learned from a mentor or from a mentee? Last month I was mentoring a CiT, and when I suggested to the team the possibility of adding an explanatory footnote to explain the original cultural setting, the CiT commented that since the primary product the team was wanting to produce was an audio Bible, it would be good to see if there was a concise way we could include the essential meaning in the text itself. It took a bit, but we did come up with a way. I thought, “Wow, I really need to incorporate that idea more often!” (for issues that might initially appear too complicated). What do you see as the place of the church in Bible translation? In the vast majority of cases, the national translators are believers. They are members of the body of Christ – the Church. So the translation is being done by the church for the church, which is wonderful! However, I believe that translation consultants still have an important task with regard to Quality Assurance. Consultant checking of Scripture is technical work, and the Consultants-in-Training we mentor (both national and expat) usually go through several years of training and mentored checking to gain the experience necessary to ensure goodquality translations. We need to be realistic about the work needed to see “the church” equipped to achieve that same degree of competency and to really grasp the principles of meaning-based translation. Adequate training takes considerably more than a couple of weeks, and I’m concerned that the investment needed is being underestimated in certain contexts. What would you say to young/aspiring translators? I know of no greater calling. We stand among historical giants who were willing to die to translate God’s Word into the vernacular so that their people could understand the Great News of what God has done for us through Jesus the Messiah. In Acts 2:11, the Church was given a blueprint for how to accomplish the Great Commission: “We hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” I can think of nothing as fulfilling as joining God in what has been on his heart since the beginning – seeing Abraham’s blessing reach all nations. Any other comments? After 39 years in Wycliffe (and 23 with Seed Company), many of my closest relationships are with others involved in translation and consulting, both nationals and expats. I very much appreciate my colleagues – what I learn from them, how they inspire me, and their friendship.

Bible Translation Brief History - Tatar Michael Greed The SIL EurAsia website has a fascinating Brief history of the Tatar Bible translation. Tatar is a Turkic language spoken primarily by over 5 million Volga Tatars in Russia. It is an official language in the Republic of Tatarstan alongside Russian. Tatar was traditionally written in the Arabic script and since 1939 they have used a Cyrillic alphabet. A number of Latin-based versions have also been used. The first Scripture portion to be published in Tatar may have been Matthew’s Gospel in 1807, closely followed by the four Gospels (1813), Psalms (1815) and the whole New Testament (1818). Like other Tatar literature of this time it used the Arabic script.

In the second half of the 19th century the Russian linguist and educator Nikolai Ilminsky (a missionary of the Russian Orthodox Church) gave fresh impetus to Tatar Bible translation work, and as a result of his leadership, Ecclesiasticus (1864), Matthew (1866), Psalms (1875), the four Gospels (1891) and Acts (1907) were translated using the Cyrillic script. During the Soviet era the Institute for Bible Translation, founded in 1973, reprinted these translations. Once there was nothing left to reprint they began to work with Envar Galim (1915-1988), a Tatar scholar in New York who began a new translation. After the fall of the Soviet Union the Institute for Bible Translation formed a new team, in Kazan. SIL International and the United Bible Societies were invited to join the team, contributing their expertise in linguistics, translation theory and biblical scholarship. This team worked on the New and Old Testaments simultaneously, and the Inzhil (New Testament) was published in 2001. The Tatar translation project has been in local hands since 2000, when a Tatar man took over as coordinator. He and his international team saw the complete Bible, Izge Yazma, the Holy Scriptures, through to publication in 2015, followed by the audio Izge Yazma a few years later. Last year, to celebrate the 24th anniversary of the publication of the Inzhil (New Testament), a revised edition of the Inzhil was published.

AI & Translation Spot Kenya Scripture Forge Workshop Jeff Webster - SC In this newsletter we share both positive and negative experiences of using AI to support Bible translation so that we all can learn together. Here we share what Jeff Webster has been discovering. What are you learning? We'd love to share your perspective in a future newsletter.

Seed Company currently supports maybe 150 languages around the world that are using AI-assisted drafting. In nearly all cases, it is not a question of "will it work?" but "how much will it help and how can we help you realize the full benefits?"

Seed Company currently supports maybe 150 languages around the world that are using AI-assisted drafting. That's about 10% of the nearly 1500 languages they are serving. In nearly all cases, it is not a question of "will it work?" but "how much will it help and how can we help you realize the full benefits?" For many, there is interest in trying it, but they don't quite know how to start. And for others, after the initial excitement, they fall off the adoption curve before getting to Adoption (as in this AI image below, when in their horror they find that Criticism has two left hands).

The BTL Scripture Forge Workshop, hosted by Bible Translation and Literacy (BTL), and sponsored by Seed Company, brought together 11 translation teams (10 OT and 1 NT) to field-test and evaluate AI-generated drafts in a controlled, hands-on way, using a single structured evaluation form across languages. Each team worked through a sequence of guided exercises that moved from editing AI-generated first drafts (rating quality across core dimensions like naturalness, grammar, lexical accuracy, and clarity, while keeping track of time), to team checking those drafts, to testing whether AI could improve already-existing translations at different stages (drafted-only through consultant-checked), and finally to evaluating AI-generated back translations. For each exercise, teams recorded verse ranges and editing time so we could compute comparable effort metrics, and they provided both scaled ratings and yes/no judgments about usefulness. I then aggregated these results into per-language summary tables and charts to compare editing effort, perceived quality, and perceived benefit. Across the workshop exercises, we found that AI-assisted drafting in Scripture Forge is both accelerating pace and improving quality: every team affirmed that turning an AI draft into a usable first draft was easier and faster than their normal drafting process. Comparison of their anecdotal pace for manual first drafting with their measured pace of editing an AI-generated draft showed very significant pace increase for every language when editing AI drafts. Team-checking results showed that teams generally found AI-edited drafts easier to check than normal. Additionally, AI drafts generally proved valuable in helping to improve existing drafts. Finally, the AI-generated back translations were nearly unanimously viewed as useful and relatively easy to correct, and both the summary evaluations and end-of-workshop feedback indicate a strong willingness to adopt AI drafts and AI BTs going forward. Jeff Webster's full Report from the BTL Scripture Forge Workshop (11-13 February 2026). Jeff Webster's Introduction to Scripture Forge Drafting power point, adapted from Michael Martin & David Baines (SIL). Further information is also provided in the Guidelines for Accelerating Your New Testament Translation With Scripture Forge Draft Generation.

News Greek Grammar Video & Book Michael & Rachel Aubrey Rachel and Michael have just published a video presentation on Force Dynamics, Image Schemas, & Constructional Polysemy: ἐπί and κατά in Postclassical Greek.

Force is ubiquitous in daily life. We act and are acted upon by causal sequences that require the exertion of force. Yet, force dynamics is an under utilized semantic category for the analysis of Ancient Greek prepositions. This presentation puts forward a force dynamics analysis of the prepositions ἐπί and κατά in Postclassical Greek with advice for teaching, research, and translation.

Their forthcoming book on Greek prepositions is now officially available for pre-order on Amazon. It will eventually be included in Translator's Workplace when it's published: Greek Prepositions in the New Testament: A Semantic Description by Rachel E. Aubrey & Michael G. Aubrey. Greek Prepositions in the New Testament takes a cognitive-functional approach, guiding readers through the diverse meanings and usage of prepositions found in biblical Greek. Each article illustrates a preposition's basic usage before detailing how these patterns are extended and adapted to take on more complex or abstract senses--with examples provided along the way.

New Book: William Tyndale and the English Language David Crystal William Tyndale’s New Testament was published 500 years ago, in 1526. British linguist David Crystal’s new book, William Tyndale and the English Language, celebrates this event. Crystal used the files of the Oxford English dictionary to determine that it has 822 instances of first recorded usages of words. These include anointed, benefactor, chaos, dissent, godless, riddance, thanksgiving. David Crystal. 2026. William Tyndale and the English Language. 248 pages. The University of Chicago Press. A revelatory examination of William Tyndale’s monumental influence on the English language.

“Dearly beloved,” “say the word,” “the powers that be,” “for ever and ever.” Such familiar phrases and many more were set down in print for the first time by William Tyndale. For his groundbreaking English translation of the Bible, he deliberately chose to write in a way that could be understood by the widest possible audience. In the first half of this pioneering exploration of the extraordinary impact Tyndale’s writing had on the development of the English language, David Crystal provides an analysis of his prose style, demonstrating its character as a novel genre of “written speech,” and bringing to light the remarkable number of cases where Tyndale is the first recorded user of a word or phrase in English. He also draws attention to the hitherto unrecognized role of Tyndale as an early lexicographer. The second half of the book is a linguistic detective story, devising an innovative lexical and grammatical metric to investigate the often-stated claim that eighty per cent of later biblical translations display Tyndale’s influence. The result is a fascinating exploration of the work of the Father of the English Bible.

FLExTrans Workshops Emily Havens We have seen a growing engagement with FLExTrans through a series of successful workshops this year. In February, a rule writing workshop brought together 8 participants from 6 different Bible translation organisations, providing focused, hands-on training.

This momentum continued in March with a one-day “Taste of FLExTrans” workshop, which attracted 13 participants from 6 organisations and offered an accessible introduction to the tool. Looking ahead, we are continuing to expand opportunities for involvement, with an upcoming workshop planned as part of a pre-EMDC training track, as well as an online workshop scheduled for 2–6 November 2026. To support high-quality outcomes and ensure participants get the most from advanced training, attendance at a “Taste of FLExTrans” session is now a prerequisite for participation in a rule writing workshop. Two additional “Taste of FLExTrans” sessions are planned for the year, one on 15 July and the other on 16 September. Please register at this link. Contact Emily Havens for further information.

Knowing Me, Knowing You Sharon Merz The next Knowing Me, Knowing You: Online Anthropology Course on Worldview and Interpersonal Dynamics will take place in September-October 2026. During this course you will acquire basic anthropological insights and skills that will equip you to build and deepen relationships with the people you work with. The course will be in English and hosted on the SIL Learning Hub platform. We plan to have two cohort groups: one for the Eastern hemisphere and one for the Western hemisphere. You can sign up for the course here: KMKY Registration. For more information contact Sharon Merz.

JCBT Hebrew Courses Bob Carter - JCBT Executive Director Bob Carter announces this upcoming series of Hebrew courses at JCBT (Jerusalem Center for Bible Translators). You can register now for these excellent courses. Biblical Hebrew for Consultant Training (BHCT). Year 1: Sep 2026 to Aug 2027. Year 2: Oct 2027 to Jun 2028. The Book of Psalms (in English). Online only – weekly. Murray Salisbury and Niek Arentsen. 23 Sept to 16 Dec 2026. The Book of Leviticus (in French) - Dr. Samy Tioyé. Three weeks: 3-24 October 2026

Coming Events 2026 - 12 May 15:00 UTC. Global CoPs for BT Consultants. Online. Is Relevance Theory still Relevant? (James Maxey/Peter Perry) 2026 - 13-16 May. pre-EMDC Scripture Forge training Thailand 2026 - 18-21 May. EMDC. Chiangmai, Thailand. 2026 - 15 Jun-24 July. Asia TCDW (Translation Consultant Development Workshop). Email Angie Foo for application. 2026 - 26 July. Taste of FLExTrans (Online). Register at this link. 2026 - 25 Aug 15:00 UTC. Global CoPs for BT Consultants. Online. "What is a word?" Anthropology insights into communication theory and what this means for Bible translation (Johannes and Sharon Merz) 2026 - 14-25 Sep. Oral Bible Translation Consultant Workshop. Johannesburg, South Africa. Contact Kris Toler for further information. 2026 - 16 Sep. Taste of FLExTrans (Online). Register at this link. 2026 - 17 Nov 15:00 UTC. Global CoPs for BT Consultants. Online. Greek linguistics (Michael and Rachel Aubrey) 2026 - 12-19 Nov. Translation Development Event. EurAsia. For further information contact Thomas Hemphill or Amber Jasa. 2026 - 21-24 Nov. Global Bible Translation Studies Consultation (GBTS) at The Society of Biblical Literature (SBL). Denver 2027 - Oct. Bible Translation Conference. Cape Town, South Africa. Theme: Bible Translation and Humanity - the image of God in context

Useful Links Donate to SIL Translation Services / BT Glossary / Translation Development Event Bible Translation Consultant Competencies / YouTube channel for BT Competencies Linguistic Standards and Deliverables for Bible Translation website SIL Senior Translation Consultants / BT Communities of Practice Email the SIL International Translation Office / International Translation Services ILS page

Join/visit the SIL Translation Resources Google Group / Visit the public SIL.org/Translation site Find Translation Resources (both free download and for purchase) Journal of Translation / Mentoring Matters website - Mentor Training Courses Consultant Development and Management Team Progress.Bible Information / Memoriam website

SIL Translation Services International Leadership Team Phil King - ITS Director Angeline Foo - SIL Coordinator for Translation Research and Practice Nick Peterson - SIL Coordinator for Translation Resources Kris Toler - SIL Coordinator for Oral Translation Services Viji Mathew - Director, Global Consultant Pool Brian Migliazza - ITS Operations and Project Management

Area Translation Coordinators AsiaPacific - Angeline Foo & Greg Carlson EurAsia - Amber J and Team Africa - Drew Maust & Jonathan van den Broek Americas - Rick Floyd & Dwight Shaver & Dany Tasama GSLT - Bernadet van der Louw

Copyright © 2026 SIL Translation Services. All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because of your interest in translation updates. This newsletter is produced by SIL Translation Services. It contains items of interest for translation personnel within SIL and related organizations. It includes notices of upcoming conferences and workshops, announcements of recent dissertations and journal articles, and pointers to useful information related to translation.

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