Category: Partnerships

When people first learn about the Bible App™ from YouVersion, many reasonably assume that we probably offer at least a few versions of the Bible. But what most probably don’t realize is that the Bible App will allow them to immediately access 160 versions… in 51 languages… entirely free. Most new users also probably don’t know that they can experience all of YouVersion—not just the website, but relevant blog posts, complete technical support, email communications, and the entire mobile version (the Bible App), including all its menus, buttons, and controls—in any of ten different languages. How do we do it? By partnering with you.

The YouVersion community is only possible because of our global network of extraordinary volunteers. People just like you passionately contribute their gifts and talents to ensure that others will also get to know the joy of engaging with God’s Word in their own heart languages. Generous Bible publishers partner with YouVersion too, providing both up-to-date, popular translations and deeply loved “classic” versions. And we’re honored to serve in God’s kingdom alongside all of you. Your hard work through partnerships like these have given YouVersion to the world in English, Norwegian, Spanish, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Russian, Korean, Brazilian Portuguese, and German, and now—in Dutch.

Partner Volunteers

Even with great design and engineering, if you couldn’t read the Bible App’s buttons and menus, how would you use it? Fortunately, because volunteers share our vision to make the Bible freely, easily accessible to as many people as possible, no matter what language they speak, many are willing to offer their abilities as translators. And because of their contributions, we’re now pleased to welcome Dutch users into the YouVersion family. Of course, we can always use more help. The Bible App and other YouVersion tools are constantly in development, as we strive to make them not only more useful, but easier to use. As just one example, Dutch speakers can now receive assistance and technical support entirely in Dutch, submitting their requests through email, Facebook, or Twitter. And volunteers are who make it happen.

If you can help with translation into Dutch or other languages, we’d love to hear from you. Serving other YouVersion users—all over the world—can literally change your life. But don’t just take our word for it. Read for yourself what some of our awesome Dutch language volunteers have to say about the reasons they serve:

“When the opportunity came to join in translating the YouVersion Bible App to Dutch, I jumped right in. A lot of Dutchmen are great with English, but it gives you a special feeling to use an application in your mother language. Through the work of Dutch volunteers, the Bible App can now be used as a full-fledged Bible in Dutch churches.”
—Joshua J., Amsterdam, Netherlands

 

“A couple of years ago, I bought an iPod touch and got the YouVersion App. When a call for translators got out, I volunteered because I have done translating before. And translating into Dutch is easy for me—I am Dutch born and bred, and I studied Dutch language and literature, even though I now live in the U.S. with my family. I also volunteered because there can be no better cause than proclaiming God’s Word in every language to all people, and modern technology provides the perfect means. May God bless all our efforts!”
—Annemarieke R., Grand Rapids, MI, USA

 

“I was using YouVersion for some time, but I thought it was a shame that some of the youth in my church couldn’t use it because of the language barrier. But instead of complaining about it and waiting for someone else to start working on it, I decided to roll up my sleeves and get to work myself. And that’s how I joined YouVersion’s Volunteer team. It’s been a crazy ride, but now that the project is well on its way, I feel blessed to be a part of such a great international team that made it possible for Dutch-speaking people to engage in the Bible—thanks to the help of YouVersion.”
—Yanick G., Ouderkerk aan de Amstel, Netherlands

Bible Publishing Partners

Of course, YouVersion is entirely centered around God’s inspired Word, the Bible. While volunteers partner with us to make things happen, our community also requires the generous support of Bible publishers and societies. In Dutch, while we already offer Het Boek (HTB) and Statenvertaling (SV1750), we’ve also been working hard to bring you additional modern, easy-to-read versions. Keep checking here on our blog for news about translations into Dutch, and watch the “Nederlands” space in the Bible App and on YouVersion.com’s versions page for new additions!

Now, for the first time, everything that YouVersion has to offer—the interfaces at YouVersion.com and in the Bible App™, technical support, communication, of course Bibles, and so much more—are all available completely in Dutch. While we’ve offered a Dutch language option at YouVersion.com for some time, the website is just one small piece of the YouVersion world.

Dutch represents our tenth complete language launch. The first was English, followed by Norwegian, Spanish, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Russian, Korean, Brazilian Portuguese, and most recently, German. And today, we’re excited to share with you many of the ways that you can now engage with the YouVersion community—entirely in Dutch:

• Menus, Buttons and Controls in Dutch. Thanks to our world-changing community of YouVersion volunteers, you can now experience the entire YouVersion user interface in Dutch, directly on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Android, or BlackBerry device. Simply set your default language to Dutch.
• Communication in Dutch. At the top right of our blog’s English version, one of the alternate languages you can select is Nederlands. Whether you start there or simply jump straight to the Dutch version, you’ll find blog posts relevant to you, written in Dutch. You can also connect with us in Dutch on Facebook or Twitter, or email us a question in Dutch. And we’ll get back to you—in Dutch! How do we do it? We couldn’t… except that amazing Dutch-speaking YouVersion volunteers are passionately devoted to assisting you in your own language.
• Dutch Technical Support. If you have any questions about YouVersion.com or about the Bible App, try visiting our all-new Tech Support site, also available completely in Dutch. And even if you don’t find what you’re looking for there, send us your question in Dutch, and Dutch-speaking volunteers trained in YouVersion support will gladly get back to you.

Your story is an important part of YouVersion’s story. If you’d like to share how YouVersion has helped you connect with the Bible, please come tell us on Facebook and Twitter. And if you have friends whose heart language is Dutch, please direct them to the Bible App and YouVersion.com, too. Our desire is to help as many people as possible freely, easily engage with God’s Word, all over the world, and in any language. Your participation makes that happen.

We’re glad you’re here! We couldn’t be happier to welcome you, our Dutch-speaking friends, to our growing YouVersion family. Please keep checking our blog in the coming days, and we’ll share more details with you about all that this Dutch language launch means. And most of all, please start sharing and getting to know other people in your YouVersion community. Welcome!

At YouVersion, we’re convinced that experiencing the Bible in your own language is the most powerful way you can engage with what God wants to say to your heart. Translating the Bible into the many languages that people ask for is not something we would be able to do ourselves. Fortunately, partners from Bible publishing societies around the world generously join with YouVersion to make sure that as many people as possible have access to God’s Word. Another thing we could never do on our own is translate the many tools YouVersion provides—interfaces, menus, websites, blogs, tech support, etc.—into every language. And that’s where you come in. The same passionate commitment of an extraordinary, worldwide community of volunteers has already brought YouVersion to you in English, Norwegian, Spanish, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Russian, Korean, and Brazilian Portuguese, and now—in German. We are honored to serve in God’s kingdom with you.

Bible Publishing Societies

Our partners have graciously provided the YouVersion community with several options that allow us to together enjoy the Bible in German:

• Neue Genfer Übersetzung (NGÜ2011). Offered by the Geneva Bible Society, the New Geneva version of the Bible includes the New Testament and Psalms. This translation is well-regarded both for its accuracy and for its writing style: easy-to-understand, contemporary German.
• Schlachter 2000 (SCH2000). Franz Eugen Schlachter, the son of Franz Joseph Butcher, was a Protestant theologian and pastor who translated the entire Bible into populist German from the original Hebrew and Greek. First published in 1905, his “Butcher’s Bible” grew in popularity throughout the 20th century, largely because he had managed to keep its concepts accessible through simple language, even as he maintained exceptional accuracy to the original source texts he used. Because of its popularity and historical significance, the Geneva Bible Society republished it as an updated version in 2000.
• Hoffnung für Alle (HFA). Provided by Biblica, the HFA is a very popular German version of the entire Bible, striving more for smooth and comfortable reading in conversational German than for a strict, literal, word-for-word interpretation.

In addition to these more contemporary translations from publishing partners, YouVersion also offers “classic” versions available in the public domain, including Albrecht New Testament and Psalms (GANTP), Elberfelder 1871 (ELB), and of course the timeless Luther Bible 1912 (DELUT).

Volunteers

While great German translations are absolutely necessary for German readers and speakers to engage in the Scriptures, YouVersion has several other important pieces. The Bible App™ is only useful if its users can actually read its controls, buttons, and menus. Volunteers from all over the world united their ability to translate with their love of God’s Word, to make these tools as easy as possible for German users. And while YouVersion’s German-speaking community is already awesome, certainly we can always use more help. We never stop working on growing and improving the Bible App, not to mention all our other tools. We also now offer assistance and technical support in German, whether requests come in through email, Facebook, or Twitter. If you can help with German translation in any of these areas, please let us know.

So what’s it like to translate for YouVersion? Here’s what just a few amazing German language volunteers recently had to say about their own experiences serving the YouVersion community all around the world:

“It’s my deep desire to read God’s Word. Unfortunately, I’m not always getting down to it very regular. I’m studying Computer Science so I’m naturally using my computer and smartphone a lot. This is how I first stumbled upon YouVersion’s Bible App. It made my daily reading a lot easier. At first, when I used it, the App was kind of unstable, and I thought about joining the dev team to improve it. Then I heard about helping as translator. Immediately I volunteered. During recent months the developers put great work in the App, and I was thankful helping out by translating. May the YouVersion community reach a lot of German people, and may everyone be blessed as I got blessed.”
—Manuel W., Darmstadt, Germany

 

“I find the YouVersion Bible App very useful, and I like to help make it available to as many people as possible. For several years, I have been doing volunteer work as a translator and proofreader for various Christian projects. I know this is a special task God wants me to fulfill.”
—Barbara S., Stetten am kalten Markt, Germany

 

“One year ago I first discovered YouVersion while I was looking for Japanese and Korean translations of the Bible. I’m studying these languages and wanted to combine reading the Bible with my study of these two languages. Later that year I read about a need for German volunteers at YouVersion, and I thought about getting more involved. At first I translated into my mother tongue, and now I’m a member of the German support team. It really helps me to improve my translation skills and is a great service for God.”
—Steffen B., Germany

 

“I always had difficulty getting myself to read the Bible every day. I’m an engineer, and I have a smartphone, and one day I found the Bible App from YouVersion. It took me a little while, but once I had spent some time exploring the Bible App, I actually found myself reading God’s Word more consistently. While I don’t mind using an app that’s in English, I know that deters many other people. Then, when I saw that YouVersion was asking for help translating their interface, I realized that I had the chance not just to be a part of the YouVersion community, but to actually help other people use God’s Word more. Now I’m very excited about what God is bringing to our work at YouVersion.”
—Tobias K., Leipzig, Germany