Translations

   

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Why Translate?

We all dream of a better world. This better world is described in The URANTIA Book as one where people let the kingdom of God rule in their hearts. It is a world where love and mutual respect are the reality, where the unselfish desire to serve motivates people's actions. The URANTIA Book sets the stage for this dream to come true.

Today many human beings around the world are living in spiritual hunger. And we, who have come to know these teachings in their various languages, are given a special opportunity to guide our fellows into the light shed by this new knowledge—first, through our personal and loving contact with them, second, through sharing the teachings of The URANTIA Book, and third, through offering the complete URANTIA Book in their native tongue.

Through its Declaration of Trust, URANTIA Foundation has the obligation to preserve inviolate the text and to translate it into other languages. This obligation is based on the mandates given by the revelators and read to the Forum in 1951:

"We must learn to possess our souls in patience. We are in association with a revelation of truth which is a part of the natural evolution of religion on this world. Over—rapid growth would be suicidal. The Book is being given to those who are ready for it long before its worldwide mission. In the meantime thousands of study groups must be brought into existence, and the book must be translated into many tongues. Thus will the Book be in readiness to comfort and enlighten the peoples of the world when the battle for man's liberty is finally won and the world is once more made safe for the religion of Jesus and the freedom of mankind."

In 1955, when The URANTIA Book was first published, only 8% of the inhabitants of this planet—only those who speak English—could potentially benefit from its teachings. Today, with six translations available, over 22% of the population has access to these teachings.

URANTIA Foundation is currently sponsoring sixteen translation projects. When they are completed, nearly one—half of the world's population will be exposed to the teachings of The URANTIA Book in their native tongues.

Available Translations

1962. The French translation, La Cosmogonie d'URANTIA, was published. A revision of the work, Le Livre dsURANTIA, was published in 1994. Since 1962, about 65,000 copies of Le Livre have been distributed.

1993. Two translations were published on the same June day in 1993: URANTIAkirja, the Finnish translation, and El libro de URANTIA, the Spanish printing. Some 5,700 copies of the Finnish book have been sold and distributed by now, out of a printing of 8,000. As concerns El libro, 10,000 hard cover and 65,000 soft cover copies have been printed and 62,000 have been distributed throughout the American continents, Europe and Africa.

1997. This year again two new translations were printed and published, the Russian and the Dutch. The first printing of 5,000 copies of the Russian has been distributed and a second, revised edition was published in early 2001. The first printing of the Dutch was 5,000 copies.

2000. The Korean translation was published in January 2000. The Korean work is a significant accomplishment considering that it is the first translation into a non—European language.

Ongoing Translation Projects

Some 70 devoted translators and students of the revelation are currently working on various translations. They are also busy translating URANTIAN News, the Journal, website texts, and other Foundation and International URANTIA Association (IUA) literature.

The ongoing translation projects include the following:

Italian—Our Italian translation has been in the making since the late 1980's. The work is in its last round of revisions, editing, and refinement.

German—A translation effort has been underway since 1988. The first draft was completed in December 2000. Editing of the work has been ongoing.

Arabic—An Arabic translation effort came into existence in late 1992 through the efforts of one individual living in Canada. He handed his preliminary first draft over to URANTIA Foundation in October 1997. A revision of the work has been in progress since then.

Swedish—The translation into Swedish has been ongoing in Finland since 1993. The entire book has been translated and edited a number of times, which is not unusual. Work was temporarily interrupted with the demise of the editor in May 2001.

Estonian—The Estonian project was initiated on Jesus' 2000th birthday, 21 August 1994. The translation has been edited and revised a number of times. The last refining effort is underway.

Lithuanian—The Lithuanian translation has been edited a number of times and a final editing is in progress.

Portuguese—Launched in 1995 in Brazil, the Portuguese translation project has reached the completion of the first draft. Concurrently with their translating the first draft, the team has also been editing and revising the work, and final revisions and refinements are in progress.

Rumanian—The Rumanian translation, which is done partly in the United States and partly in Romania, was commenced in 1997. The team expects the first draft of the book to be completed by the end of year 2001.

Polish—A translator team has been working in Australia on a Polish rendering since June 1998. About two—thirds of the book exist at the first draft level and the editing and refinement of the work has begun.

Indonesian—The Indonesian translation project was formalized in the summer of 1999. Some fifty Papers of the Indonesian undertaking currently exist at the first draft stage.

Farsi—Work on a Farsi (Persian) translation was begun in April 2000. The team, which works in the United States and in Iran, has translated some twenty Papers into Farsi, and the same Papers have already undergone one round of editing.

Greek—A Greek translator team was authorized to start the Greek translation project in early July 2000, and already in May 2001 the first draft of the entire Greek translation was completed. Revision and refinement of the Greek work is in progress.

Japanese—Our Japanese project is in its initial stages. The first Papers have been translated and the work progresses. Translating into Japanese is particularly difficult and time consuming because of the Japanese writing system.

Chinese—Our Chinese project is also in its very first stages. A Chinese translator team has been formed and is working in China. Due to the difficulties involved, a Chinese project will require a considerably long span of time to accomplish.

Bulgarian—A team that will translate The URANTIA Book into the Bulgarian language has been formed only recently.

In the Waiting

Judging by the number of received inquiries, we will likely have projects for the Hungarian, Hindi, and Ukrainian languages in the near future.

Some of the above translation projects are funded by individuals and by national and local associations of the IUA. One local association in the United States has adopted the Chinese translation as a project they wish to sponsor.

Whether you act as an individual or as an organization, URANTIA Foundation invites you to Adopt-a-Translation. This does not mean that you would be expected to fund the project all alone. What it does mean is that you personally or your organization would be contributing financially towards a project of your choice.

If you choose to adopt a translation and become its sponsor, please contact your nearest URANTIA Foundation office.