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TORONTO – (CANADIAN CHRISTIAN NEWS SERVICE) – Dr. William Brackney, Chair of the Board of Governors of the Canadian Bible Society (CBS), is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Myles Leitch as Director of Scripture Translation for the Canadian Bible Society.
Dr. Leitch’s background – as a professional academic linguist and professor (most recently with Tyndale University College & Seminary) combined with more than 20 years of service as a linguistic consultant and field director in Francophone Africa with Wycliffe-SIL – will contribute significantly to and guide the work of the Scripture Translation Department in the years ahead.
“I’m really delighted with this opportunity to use all of my quite diverse experiences over many years in the world of Bible translation,” says Dr. Leitch.
The Scripture Translation Department of CBS supports translations into First Nations languages here in Canada, and works in cooperation with the United Bible Societies to provide technical support for the translation and Scripture publishing community around the world through the Institute of Computer Assisted Publishing (ICAP). Known as a “solutions community,” ICAP is best known for Paratext, a Bible translation software that has transformed the work of translators globally.
“As someone who is a consumer of the software myself, I know that what ICAP does is extremely important for the whole enterprise of Bible translation,” says Dr. Leitch. “In Nigeria in May, I plan on working with a team of Bible translators from one of Nigeria’s approximately 400 indigenous languages, and we will be working each day with Paratext. The revised and checked Scripture portions will be uploaded via the internet daily to Paratext servers right here in Ontario. Translation teams all around the world, and some in very remote locations, are using this software and the cloud storage that is integral to it. It’s incredible and I’m thrilled to be a part of it.”
For more than 100 years, the Canadian Bible Society has promoted Bible translation, publication, distribution and engagement. It distributes Scripture resources in more than 100 languages in Canada and together with 146 national Bible Societies worldwide, distributes hundreds of millions of Christian Scripture portions each year.
“We have found in Dr. Leitch a superior candidate for this priority task of the Canadian Bible Society. We believe this is an answer to many prayers. On behalf of the Board of Governors, I welcome him to the team. We look forward to years of innovation ahead, as Dr. Leitch leads our Translation/ICAP team,” says Dr. William Brackney.
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For information and interviews contact:
Meggy Kwok
Director of Human Resources
Phone: 416-757-4171
Email: mkwok@biblesociety.ca
Web: www.biblesociety.ca
For downloadable, high resolution photo of Dr. Myles Leitch click here.
Helpful facts about the Bible
The Bible’s Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew.
The Bible’s New Testament was composed in Greek.
The earliest parts of the Bible were written in approximately 1500 B.C.E.
Embraced by some cultures, derided and banned by others, the Bible is the most-published, best-selling book in history.
There are more than 6900 known languages in the world; 518 of them have translations of the whole Bible.
Helpful facts about Translation
At any given time, the average number of active Scripture translation projects around the globe averages about 650.
In Canada, CBS has worked with various partners to publish the Bible in Inuktitut, a New Testament with partial Old Testament in Ojibwe, and New Testaments in Algonquin, Atikamekw, James Bay Cree, Dogrib, Mi’kmaq, and Naskapi. Several additional translation programs are ongoing.
Helpful facts about ICAP
ICAP exists to:
develop computer tools
facilitate a community of support around these tools
educate users in the implementation of the tools in order to support best practice in Bible translation and publishing.
Helpful facts about Paratext
Paratext, a computer program to make Bible translation easier and quicker, was so successful that in just a few short months, demand outstripped capacity, initiating a series of innovations – including the creation of ICAP itself – to make the software program even more accessible.
It used to take on average 25 years to translate a Bible. That time has been more than cut in half through innovations like Paratext.