YouVersion

Today we’re sharing some inspiration from a few world-changers, volunteers who worked on translating YouVersion tools (like the Bible App™) and services (like technical support) during our recent full Chinese language launch, into both Simplified and Traditional Chinese.

Together, we want to make it easy for all people to engage with the Bible, no matter where they live, no matter what languages they speak. But the work that YouVersion does is only made possible by an extraordinary, literally worldwide community of key volunteers just like these. These are regular people—people just like you—who simply make the choice to use some of their gifts and talents to help other people learn about the story of God’s love. We can’t thank them enough for all they’ve done and continue to do.

If you’d like to help, we always need translation as we build new features for our current apps and expand to new mobile platforms in Chinese…as well as plenty of other languages. If you’d like to see YouVersion.com, the Bible App, and our other tools translated into your heart language, let us know how can help on our volunteer sign-up form.

Now let’s hear from just a few of the people making a huge difference in God’s kingdom, real-life YouVersion volunteers, about their passion for participating:

“I hope that more and more young people will spend time every day reading the Bible and devotionals. I’d love to see the Bible come to life in their lives as it has in mine. YouVersion is a great name—when the Bible becomes my own version, I truly live out its words.

“It’s been so exciting to see our young Christian technology members unite together. When the things we do work, we praise God. But even when they don’t, still we praise Him. Either way, we always try to honor Him with our actions and our attitudes. We work together as a team, and we’re thrilled to get to share in seeing our Chinese speaking community discover this great Web 2.0 Bible App!”

—“Isaac,” Shanghai

“Just as God is the King of kings and Lord of lords, the Bible is the Book of books, the Best of the best. Cyberspace may be virtual, but its influence on people is genuine and deep. We hope that God’s Word spreads all over the world—and that includes the Internet.

“YouVersion seems to be one of the most successful online platforms for spreading God’s Word, so it’s my great pleasure to get to contribute to the Chinese version of the Bible App. Although those of us on our team haven’t met face to face, we’re all in the same family—God’s family.

“Everything we’re doing is for God’s glory and for His people. May God bless His Word and other Scripture websites!”

—“Albert,” Beijing

“People are so connected now through the Internet that it’s become an important part of their lives. God’s Word should be part of their lives as well. Thank God that with YouVersion’s help, people can easily use the Internet and mobile devices to read the Bible every day. It is such a beautiful ministry.”

—“Black,” from Taipei

“I have worked for YouVersion projects because I hope my contributions will make it possible for more and more young readers to be able to spend time daily reading the Bible and devotionals.”

—“Leo,” Shanghai

If you’ve been keeping up with recent announcements in the YouVersion community, you may have noticed some significant developments in our Chinese language efforts: more Bibles in Chinese, translating the Bible App’s interface into both Simplified and Traditional Chinese, and communication and technical support in both languages. Here’s why we’re especially excited about all of these things:

• Number of People. YouVersion’s simple mission is to make it easy for as many people as possible to freely engage with the Bible, no matter where they live. And Chinese speakers represent one of the largest people groups in the world. According to The World Factbook, the population of mainland China alone is now more than 1.3 billion people. Wikipedia estimates that some 40 million additional “Overseas Chinese” live outside the country. Although large concentrations of Chinese are present in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the United States, and Singapore, the truth is, a lot of Chinese people live almost everywhere in the world.

 

• The Written Word. Several decades ago, in an effort to raise literacy, the Chinese government “simplified” the way that many Chinese characters are formed. Their hope was that if characters were less complicated to write than the “traditional” forms, more people would learn to read and write them. Today, both of these written forms are now practiced by Chinese, depending largely on how they were taught as children, and also on their personal preferences. Because these two written forms are now the most popular among Chinese the world over, YouVersion’s amazing volunteers have worked tirelessly to translate YouVersion’s interfaces and services into both Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese. This even includes technical support! (Check it out in Simplified or Traditional.)

 

• Spoken Languages. The most commonly spoken Chinese dialects are Standard or Simplified (Mandarin) and Yue (Cantonese). Now, just to be clear, these are spoken languages, independent of the various forms of the written characters. Native speakers often use both of these most common dialects, although they may also use other variations, typically representative of their family’s traditional origins in their ancestral homeland. As we enter into new partnerships for audio Bibles, we intend to offer as many spoken options as we can. In fact, we’re honored to already offer the Chinese Standard Bible (CSB), as read in the Mandarin dialect.

We’re thrilled to be able to expand what we offer to Chinese readers and speakers, especially considering the enormous potential to reach out to millions of people with the life-changing story of God’s love.