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Today Is Global Share the Bible Day!

Merry Christmas! Please join us today as together we not only celebrate the birth of our Savior, but also share the joy of the gift of His Word. YouVersion is what it is because of you, the worldwide YouVersion community. God has already used your passion and the Bible App™ to reach more people than we ever could have imagined. Even so, we believe it’s still just the beginning.

Last year we started the annual tradition of Global Share the Bible Day, a day when we take every opportunity to share the Bible with others. Whether it’s face to face, through your Facebook status or your Twitter feed, or even on your blog, every time you think of it today, please tell others what you love about the Bible.

What to Share? Here Are Some Ideas:

Share the Bible Day. Let others know what the YouVersion community is doing:

Your faith. What has God done in your life?

Your favorite verse. Why? What does it mean to you?

The Christmas story. What’s your favorite part?

The Bible App. Tell people how they can get the Bible for free.

These are just a few suggestions to help get you started. But of course Global Share the Bible Day is about how the Bible is special to you. The Bible App makes it easy: Visit our Technical Support website to learn you can how to link your free YouVersion account to your Facebook and Twitter. Just select your preferred language at the bottom, your device type on the left, and then look under “Sharing.” (And when you share online, please remember to include the hash tag #Bible.)

We’re excited to get to spend Christmas Day with you, drawing as much attention as we can today to God’s story of love for us—the Bible!

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YouVersion Partners Contribute French Bibles, Volunteers Translate

Française Bible App™ IcôneHaving the opportunity to engage with God’s Word in your own heart language is one of the most powerful ways you can experience it. YouVersion would never be able to practically translate the Bible into all of the many languages people ask us to. We’re fortunate to be able to partner with Bible publishers and societies from around the world, organizations who graciously join with us to make their translations of the Bible freely available to our YouVersion community.

As you might imagine, translating the many different pieces of the global YouVersion experience—interfaces, menus, websites, blogs, tech support, and more—is a huge undertaking. That’s why we thank God every day for our passionate community of extraordinary volunteers. Thanks to them, we’ve already seen YouVersion translated from English into Norwegian, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Russian, Korean, Brazilian Portuguese, German, Dutch—and of course now into French! We couldn’t do what we do without the help of these amazing people.

Bible Societies

Generous partners have provided the YouVersion community with several beautiful translations of the Scriptures into French, with more still to come:

  • Bible Segond 21 (S21). Offered by the Geneva Bible Society, the Segond 21 required 12 years of translation from original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts, while also incorporating more recently available research. Billed as “the original with the words of today,” it’s been a top-selling Bible among French speakers—even making an appearance in the top 200 books sold at Amazon France!
  • La Bible Du Semeur (BDS). Provided by the International Bible Society (now Biblica), La Bible Du Semeur was translated from the original Biblical languages using a thought-for-thought, meaning-based philosophy. Completed in 1999, the BDS presents the Scriptures in contemporary, easy-to-read informal French.
  • …And 3 More Brand New Additions. We’re excited to announce that thanks to the Alliance Biblique Française, we have just been able to release for the first time on YouVersion the Français Courant 1997 (FRC97-FR), Nouvelle Bible Segond 2002 (NBS-FR), and Parole de Vie 2011 (PDV-FR). Each of these are well-known, widely read translations among French speakers. Keep checking under Français on the Bible App’s list of available translations and on YouVersion.com’s Versions page!

The Geneva Bible Society Bible also provides the Nouvelle Edition de Genève 1979 (NEG79). In addition to all these contemporary translations from publishing partners, YouVersion also offers more “classic” versions from the public domain, including the Martin 1744 (FMAR), the Bible Louis Segond 1910 (LSG-FR), and the Ostervald (OST).

Volunteers

Wonderful French translations are critical to helping French readers and speakers engage with the Bible, but that’s just one part of YouVersion. Bible App users also need to be able to read its controls, buttons, and menus. People passionate about sharing God’s Word, gifted in translation, volunteer to make all of these tools just as accessible for French users. We never stop making the Bible App better, so there’s always translation to do. And now that we’re offering technical support in French for requests which come to us through email, there’s even more to do. We deeply appreciate our French-speaking volunteer community, so we’d love to get more help for them. If you can assist with any French translation—particularly in responding to requests on Facebook or Twitter—please join us. We need you!

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to help YouVersion reach the world, we asked a few of our awesome French language volunteers to share their experiences with you:

Bénévoles Traduction française Ramelle S.

“I was involved in translation at church and in other areas, when I received YouVersion’s email requesting volunteers. I saw the opportunity to sow in a ministry that was helping me so much through the Bible App, so I jumped straight in! Volunteering with YouVersion has connected me to Christians from different parts of the globe, interacting, working, and learning together while having the opportunity to bless people we don’t even know. This is an awesome privilege!”
—Ramelle S., Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, France

Bénévoles Traduction française Vanessa R.

“I stumbled upon YouVersion while searching for a Bible App. I fell in love with how simple it was to connect with God’s Word on a daily basis. Then I noticed an invitation to become a volunteer. How thrilled I was to see that I could be part of the translating team, and use this ability with language to help people just like me engage with God! This opportunity is truly a rewarding and blessed experience.”
—Vanessa R., Montreal, Canada

Bénévoles Traduction française Maria-Rosa C.

“I began volunteering for YouVersion a few months ago under the prompting of the Holy Spirit. This ministry is so fulfilling because I know it is impacting many people all around the world.”
—Maria-Rosa C., South Jordan, Utah, USA

Bénévoles Traduction française Vera S.

“The Bible App has been very strategic in my walk with Christ. I am able to tap into Reading Plans and just rest in God’s grace as I read His Word. It was important to me that I share with others by volunteering my time, skills, and talents. It is humbling to know that I am part of a team that comes together to help others out of love and obedience to the Lord. Each day in the Lord is a journey in service—serving God and others. Volunteering at YouVersion is a daily reminder to me of that.”
—Vera S., Jackson, Mississippi, USA

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The Bible App #33 Most-Downloaded iTunes App in 2011

Every December, Apple announces the top apps in each category in the iTunes Store for the entire year. For 2011, in the free Reference category, the Bible App™ from YouVersion was #33 on iPhone and #100 on iPad! Just to offer a little perspective, Apple recently announced that it’s seen more than 18 billion downloads go through the Apple App Store. And there are currently more than 520,000 different apps there.
iTunes App Store Rewind 2011 and the Bible App™
If you don’t already have the Bible App on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, why don’t you give it a try? (It’s always 100% free.) And if you do already have the Bible App—especially if you haven’t found The Other 16 yet—you might consider bringing up Apple’s Rewind 2011 as a way to share about it. Mentioning that the Bible App was one of the best apps of the year is a great conversation starter!

If you’d like to see all of the top apps mentioned in Rewind, just visit the iTunes Store and click the Rewind 2011 button scrolling through the top menu:
iTunes Rewind 2011 Button

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The Bible App for Android: New Release Packs in Convenience, Control

The Bible App™ Dashboard Launcher on a Google NexusBrand-new Version 3.7* of the Bible App for Android is in the Android App Market now. While we’ve fixed some bugs in this update, more importantly, we’ve brought you several great new features:

  • Reading Plan Reminders. Schedule the Bible App to pop up your Reading Plan whenever it’s most convenient for you.
  • User Profile View. Coming for the first time to the Bible App for Android, now you can work with your account settings all in one place—name, profile image, contact information, and more. You can even browse your Friends’ profiles and the profiles of people who are following you.
  • More Privacy Controls. When people view your profile, you can control whether they can see the reading plan(s) you’re subscribed to.
  • Better Language Support. We’ve improved the way Bible text displays for Greek, Armenian, Khmer, and Bengali.

We’ve even integrated a few commonly-used features directly into the Bible App, previously available only through the YouVersion.com website:

  • Password Reminder. If you forget your YouVersion password, you can have the Bible App send a message to your email of record to help you reset it.
  • Password Change. Change your password from right inside in the Bible App.
  • Notification Preferences. Tell YouVersion which of your account actions you want to trigger messages to you.

Spread the word! The Bible App for Android makes it easy to share your journey through the Bible with your friends—from inside the app—whether you’re posting to Facebook or Twitter, or sending an email or text. Consider showing your friends the Bible App on your device, or even offering to help them install it on theirs. A new release of the Bible App can be a great conversation starter!

*This release supports Android version 1.6 and higher, as well as Apps2SD.

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Experience All of YouVersion: Now Available in French

L’Appa Bible™ et YouVersion.com maintenant en FrançaisFor the first time ever, every part of YouVersion is now available completely in French: the interfaces at YouVersion.com and in the Bible App™, technical support, communication, Bibles, and so much more. Of course, French has been available at YouVersion.com for some time now, but that’s just one small part of what YouVersion has to offer.

French is YouVersion’s eleventh complete language launch. English was first, then Norwegian, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Russian, Korean, Brazilian Portuguese, German, and most recently, Dutch. Today, we’re officially announcing many of the ways that you can engage with the YouVersion community—entirely in French:

French Menus, Buttons and Controls. Our incredible YouVersion volunteers have been working behind the scenes for months to translate the entire YouVersion user interface into French for your iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch), Android, or BlackBerry device. All you need to do is set your device’s default language to French. Or, if you have the latest Bible App for iOS update, you can change the interface language in your Bible App Settings.

Communication in French. Français is one of several languages you can select at the top right of the English version of our blog—or just go directly to the French version. Either way, you’ll find blog posts specifically for you, written in French. To ensure that you receive updates and other YouVersion communication in French, you’ll need a free YouVersion account, then visit Settings at YouVersion.com and select Français as your preferred language.

French Technical Support. If you have any questions about YouVersion.com or the Bible App, try checking the French version of our Technical Support site. If you don’t find what you’re looking for there, contact us in French, and French-speaking YouVersion support volunteers will be happy to respond to you.

YouVersion’s ongoing mission is to make the Bible freely available to as many people as possible, no matter where they live or what language they prefer. Because the French language serves so many people all over the world, we’re thrilled to bring the whole YouVersion experience to French speakers, no matter where they call home:

French Speakers in France. According to The World Factbook, 62.8 million people live in France, making it the 21st most populous nation in the world. While France’s entire population speaks French, according to Wikipedia, French is actually the first language for many more people, as well—somewhere between 70 million and 110 million—with another 190 million beyond that claiming French as a second language.

French Speakers Around the Globe. Outside France, French is the native language of Monaco, Switzerland’s Romandy region, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, and Quebec and Acadia in Canada, as well as various other communities around the world. French is the second most common language in Canada, federally recognized as an “official” national language. And variations and different dialects of French are spoken in countries literally all over the planet.

Welcome to the YouVersion Family! We’re excited to welcome our newest friends, French speakers and readers, no matter where you live. In a few days, we’ll share more details on our blog about more that we have to offer you. In the meantime, we’d love for you to get started connecting with the YouVersion community on Facebook and Twitter. We’re so glad that you’re here!

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