A few years back, a JW friend told me that the Watchtower houses the largest language library in the world because they have the magazines translated into every known language. Do any of you know if that is true? Everytime I see the babble fish for translation on a website, I wonder if her story was true and if perhaps Watchtower has contributed to the internet powers or some of the groups that have provided these translations and if more language translations would be available in the future as more countries are opening to internet services.
Watchtower Languages
by cameo-d 16 Replies latest watchtower bible
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Octarine Prince
Uh, nah.
Bibliotek - German
Bibliotheque - French
Biblioteca - Spanish -
Octarine Prince
Further, the ancient Library of Alexandria was world famous as one of the first scholarly libraries. This is where the name comes from.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Alexandria -
cameo-d
I think you misunderstood. This was my question(below). The other info was just for entertainment because I thought it was unique.
A few years back, a JW friend told me that the Watchtower houses the largest language library in the world because they have the magazines translated into every known language. Do any of you know if that is true?
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Pahpa
CD
I wouldn't be surprised if this is true. The Watchtower has always concentrated on the publishing and distributing of literature that promotes its own doctrine. This is why they have publishing houses throughout the world.
I only wish that Jehovah's Witnesses and the Watchtower Society would acknowlege those religious groups that translated and distributed Bibles to those native peoples. They have actually built upon the hard and dangerous work of others. Without this ground work already laid, the Watchtower would have been very limited. Instead, these groups are condemned as part of "Babylon the Great."
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blondie
*** w07 11/1 p. 17 "The Silver Is Mine, and the Gold Is Mine" ***Today, the average printing per issue is 28,578,000 copies, in 161 languages.Awake!, the companion magazine to TheWatchtower, has an average printing of 34,267,000 copies, in81 languages.
This report by Stephen R. Anderson of the Linguistic Society of America explains how complicated the question really is. According to Anderson, estimates have risen steadily over time. A 1911 version of the Encyclopedia Britannica, for example, "implies a figure somewhere around 1,000." Throughout the century, that figure grew as experts broadened the "language" definition.
In his report, Anderson cites the Ethnologue organization. According to Ethnologue, there are currently 6,912 living languages, defined as languages that people speak today. Interestingly, the part of the world with the highest level of linguistic diversity is Papua New Guinea. The region has approximately 830 languages for around 5.4 million people. That's about one language for every 6,500 residents.
Ethnologue also reports a total of 238 languages in the United States, 162 of which are "living." Those wondering why the country has never declared English its official language may finally have their answer.
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cameo-d
First World Digital Library---Establishing a Universal Digital Language that Replaces All Languages
I was trying to track down some information to find if the org contributed to the internet language translations or how it all came together when I ran across this and thought you all might enjoy seeing this. Maybe it's old news to some of you, but it was new to me. This is the Alexandria Library which opened in 2002. The Bibliotheca Alexandria maintains the only copy and external back-up of the Internet Archive . The gray aswan granite is carved with characters from 120 different human scripts: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Image:DSC03217.JPG Also you might find this of interest. It is called Bibliotheca Alexandria : International School of Information Science (ISIS). Sounds like it might be part of the "world-wide education work", ya think? This is interior photo showing some statue artwork http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Image:DSC03221.JPG The building's elaborate architecture imitates a rising sun. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliotheca_Alexandrina Very interesting to note some of the programs at this library: Establishing a Universal Digital Language that Replaces All Languages 19 June 07 al-Qahera Languages Extinction by 2050 8 may 2007 World Digital Library joins Bibliotheca Alexandria and the Library of Congress First World Digital LIbrary April 07 USA and Egypt Signs Agreement 8 April 07
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Joker10
Watch Tower publishes material in 450 languages now.
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cameo-d
Today, the average printing per issue is 28,578,000 copies, in 161 languages.Awake!, the companion magazine to TheWatchtower, has an average printing of 34,267,000 copies, in81 languages.
What year was that Blondie? Thanks Joker 10 says 450, so I am wondering the time frame difference.
Watch Tower publishes material in 450 languages now.
Another question...
Do the witnesses still believe that there will only be one language spoken in the new sysytem? One universal language?
What other institution would have such a collection of languages?
Do you think watchtower has shared their language information with other repositories?
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dozy
The Watchtower doesn't have a language library as such , though they do have lots of translators (5,200 at the last count) , most of whom ae involved in translating WTS publications from English into another language. They don't have any translators capable of translating original Bible Greek or Hebrew into modern languages though - they left that up to Fred Franz and other experts in the past.
Do the witnesses still believe that there will only be one language spoken in the new sysytem? One universal language?
Yes
What other institution would have such a collection of languages?
See above.
Do you think watchtower has shared their language information with other repositories?
No. The WTS doesn't have "language information"or any resource as such , they have teams of volunteer translators ( of various abilities) who get given a Watchtower or Awake , or new publication and told to translate it. A couple of translators post on JWD. The WTS wouldn't share any information as they don't have any to share , though I would imagine that they would use repositories and libraries for research purposes , as they did , controversially , in the case of the UN library.
