Did you know that the Tswana Bible was the first complete Bible published in one of South Africa's indigenous languages? It was also the third Bible in an African language.

Over the years the Bible Society of South Africa has been involved in the translation of the Bible into all our country's languages – about 18 translations and 12 revisions.

Making the Bible’s message accessible and understood has always been an integral part of Bible Society work, and translating the Bible into the languages of South Africa's many language groups remains one of the key means of achieving that goal.

Although the New Testament is available in Southern Ndebele, it remains the only official language in South Africa that does not yet have a complete Bible. This Bible is expected to be published by the end of 2012.

The source-text orientated translation in Afrikaans which began in 2006 is well underway. Visit this translation's website for more information.

A New Testament and Psalms was published in contemporary Zulu by the Bible Society of South Africa in 1986, but the translation of the Old Testament never went ahead. At the request of the Zulu churches the Bible Society began with the translation of the Old Testament in August 2009. The team has already translated a number of Old Testament books and they also started revising the New Testament books from the existing 1986 translation.

The Bible Society of South Africa recently began with the translation of an English Bible for the Deaf (EBD) for use in South Africa and throughout Africa where English is spoken. This translation, in deaf-oriented English, is aimed especially at people who are born deaf and those who use Sign Language.  Because people learn spoken language primarily through imitation and verbal communication, people who are born deaf have unique language and reading skills.