Category: Releases

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

If you read or speak German, no matter where you live in the world, the YouVersion community is excited to welcome you to the Bible App™ and to YouVersion.com! Thanks to partnerships with generous publishers of Bibles in German, the rapidly growing global community of YouVersion users now has access to popular German versions like Hoffnung für Alle (HFA), easy-reading translations like Neue Genfer Übersetzung (NGU2011) and Schlachter 2000 (SCH2000), and even beloved classics like the Luther Bible 1912 (DELUT) and Elberfelder 1871 (ELB).

Although everything at YouVersion is centered around the Bible, that’s just one aspect of what we do. YouVersion also has an extraordinary community of volunteers who have recently devoted themselves to bringing everything YouVersion has to offer to readers and speakers of German. And that doesn’t only mean the interface (menus and buttons), but also exchanges on social networks like Facebook and Twitter, conversations in email, reading plans—even comprehensive technical support!

• German Speakers in Germany. According to Wikipedia, German is the most commonly spoken first language in the European Union, with close to 100 million native speakers. Just in Germany alone, The World Factbook says there more than 81 million people, making Germany the sixteenth most populous nation in the world, uniquely equipping our German brothers and sisters to reach out to their neighbors in the EU in ways the rest of the YouVersion community simply cannot.
• German Speakers Worldwide. Of course, Germans are spread throughout the rest of the world, well beyond Germany’s borders. While millions live in places as far away as the United States or Russia, millions also live closer to home, like the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Luxembourg, and the United Kingdom. But a lot more people speak German than just Germans. In fact, German is the most widely spoken language of Austria, Switzerland, and Lichtenstein. And some other nationalities who speak German as a second or third language include Luxembourgers, Dutch, Danes, and Slovenians—to name just a few—raising the popularity of the German language up to something more like 200 million speakers.

Now, for the first time ever, if German is your preferred language, no matter where you live, you can find the Bible App on all major mobile device platforms. Right in your pocket, you have instant access to the Bible translations of your choice, as well as to a whole host of tools designed to help you connect with God’s inspired Word every day—all in easy-to-understand German.

Welcome to our global YouVersion family! Even when we speak different languages, still we share the bonds of unity in Christ’s transforming love. We’re glad to join with you, and we can’t wait to hear your stories about how God’s Word is reshaping your heart, your life, and your world.

Today we’re excited to announce the official launch of the German language interface across all of YouVersion, including the Bible App™! While of course the YouVersion.com website has already offered German since February, what we’re sharing today is much more than that. Thanks to the generosity of our publishing partners, and to the passionate dedication of our YouVersion volunteers, now every interaction you have with YouVersion—whether it’s sharing with your friends or engaging with the Bible—you can do entirely in German! German is our ninth complete language, after English, Norwegian, Spanish, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Russian, Korean, and most recently, Brazilian Portuguese.

Here are just a few examples of the many ways that you can now enjoy God’s Word and His people—completely in German:

• Great German Bibles. Our publishing partners generously provide—for free—high quality, widely read German versions of the Bible for all of us in the YouVersion community. To see a complete list, visit the Versions page and look for “Deutsch.” Or, in the Bible App, select the Bible version you’re using, and you’ll see a long list of other versions, including several excellent ones in German.
• Entire User Interface. Try selecting German at YouVersion.com or in the Bible App on your mobile device—iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Android, or BlackBerry. Now you can display all of your controls, buttons, and menu options in German, all thanks to YouVersion’s worldwide community of amazing volunteers.
• Communication in German. In the upper right corner of the English language version of our blog, you’ll see a place to select other languages—including Deutsch. You can also go directly to the German language version, where you’ll find articles specifically relevant to YouVersion’s German-speaking users, courtesy once again of translation by YouVersion volunteers. And if you send us an email in German, or post a question on Facebook or Twitter in German, German-speaking volunteers will respond to you—in German!
• Support in German. Need help with the Bible App or YouVersion.com? If you submit your question in German, German-speaking volunteers trained in YouVersion support will gladly assist you. Even our all-new Tech Support site now offers a German version.

At YouVersion, one simple vision guides everything we do: To help as many people as possible freely, easily engage with God’s Word, no matter where you live or what language you prefer. And you can help—if you have friends whose heart language is German, please share this great news about YouVersion.com and the Bible App with them. Also, please come connect with us on Facebook and Twitter and share your personal YouVersion story!

Just the beginning… To all of our German speaking friends: We are thrilled and honored to welcome you to the YouVersion family. We’ll continue sharing more details about the German language launch over the next few days, right here on our blog. We hope you’ll be as excited as we are about all that your new community has to offer you!