Progress of Bible Translation in Africa

Last month, Dr. John Mbiti lectured on "Western Impregnation of Bible Translations in Kiikamba and other African Languages." Toward the beginning of his lecture, he commented on the progress of Bible translation in Africa, for which we praise God:

By 1900 there were Bible translations (in full, New Testament, and Portions) into 113 African languages. International and later national Bible Societies, including the United Bible Societies, Wycliffe Global Alliance, International Bible Society, and Biblica Africa, became the main promoters and sponsors of Bible translation in the twentieth century. There ensued an explosion of translations, and the work is continuing at top speed. Wycliffe Global Alliance gives the figure of 936 African languages in October 2015 that had the Bible. That figure is almost one third (31.9 %) of world translations {cf. Americas 553, Asia 733, Europe 168, and Pacific 542, http://www.wycliffe.net/statistics}. That is a tremendous achievement within one century, for which the Bible Societies and any other translation agencies deserve many thanks and deep appreciation. [emphasis mine]

Dr. Mbiti outlined specific textual examples where Western influence on African Bible translations has produced misunderstandings in the African context, and then he concluded with 12 summarizing remarks. While one may disagree with some of his exegetical comments, his comments are well-stated about translations needing to be more oral-sensitive, more aware of African readers and their context, and better in their orthographies.


Investigating Bible translation in Africa eventually led him to complete his own NT Bible translation (the Mbiti Kiikamba NT) entirely from the Greek rather than working from a European source text and the Greek. He exhorted more Africans to learn the original languages and follow his example. We praise God for you, Dr. Mbiti!