Why should someone start with Bible stories when what they really need is a Bible? There are several reasons why we recommend starting with Open Bible Stories.
- The collection of Open Bible Stories covers the entire Bible in 50 stories, so it is a great way for people to have an overview of the entire scope of the Bible and how the stories fit together. Readers will understand how the New Testament fulfills Old Testament prophecies, and avoids difficulties like translators making mistakes like believing that Moses was alive when Jesus was born.
- Learning how to translate Open Bible Stories is an easier way for trainers to practice training and new translators to learn translation than beginning with Scripture. The stories follow a narrative structure, which is the easiest thing to translate.
- The basic translation process is the same for Open Bible Stories as it is for Scripture. We provide very similar resources for both the Open Bible Stories and Bible book packages. They can both be edited and checked using the same software. This makes translating Open Bible Stories an excellent way to master beginning translation skills as well as learning how to use translation software.
- The Open Bible Stories have proven very effective for evangelism and discipleship. Many teams are able to complete and distribute them in less than 6 months providing a valuable teaching resource in a short amount of time.
- A good translation is clear, natural, and accurate. New translators tend to think that translating accurately means representing each word of the source with an equivalent word in their language. This results in wooden, almost inter-linear translations. Inexperienced translators fail to keep the meaning of the original text in a form that is natural and clear in their own language. Because the Open Bible Stories are not Scripture, new translators feel more freedom to translate them in a way that is natural and clear. Once they have the habit of doing clear and natural translations, it is easier for them to create a Bible translation that is also clear and natural.
- For churches that want to eventually do Scripture translation for themselves, translating Open Bible Stories allows the network team to learn how to put together all the elements needed to organize, plan, and execute a translation project for themselves. Translating the smaller pieces of the Open Bible Stories makes it easier to learn the process on something manageable before tackling a large-scale Bible translation project. Translating Open Bible Stories is not just an introduction to Scripture and translation, but teaches new translation teams everything they need for a network to work together to meet all their Scripture needs.
In summary, we feel Open Bible Stories is a great first step to Bible translation because it provides the church with a great resource, offers a good tool for evangelism and discipleship of new believers, and provides the best first practice of translation skills.
Introducing Open Bible Stories
Getting Started with translating Open Bible Stories
https://www.canva.com/design/DAFFwp15fwc/view
Checking Open Bible Stories
https://www.canva.com/design/DAFdkeOlWn4/view
7 steps of OBS translation.pdf