New World Translation REVISED Editions (page 2)

Drearyweather

Here is a list of SOME of the NWT REVISED Language Editions published so far:

The revised 2013 NWT is available in around 50 languages. See the list here:

https://www.jw.org/download/?fileformat=PDF&output=html&pub=nwt&option=TRGCHlZRQVNYVrXF

Wonderment

Jehovah’s Witnesses have been successful in attracting members of other churches in the Western world, mainly Catholic.

Here in the US, JWs hardly make a convert from Evangelical Protestants. Their growth comes from immigrants mainly.

JWs have a dismal record in countries where Islam predominates. With the exception of a few countries like Japan, Philippines, and Korea, their record in making converts in the Middle and Far East are very poor. Even in Israel, after so many decades in presence there, they have only like 15 hundred publishers. In Bangladesh, they only have one publisher for every 7 thousand people (7,000).

Wonderment

Thank you so much for pulling this up for us Dreary weather. I missed that page. I should have come to you first. LOL!

slimboyfat

It is a bit odd that the 2013 revision is now available is some very obscure languages (Ewe? Gun?) but not in Spanish, German or French. It’s almost as if they’ve avoided the major languages on purpose. Maybe the delay for these major languages is because of cost.

If Watchtower needs to print around 50 million new Bibles at a cost of around 5 to $10 each, that’s approaching half a billion dollars. Can they afford that? I really doubt it.

50 million might seem a high estimate, but I don’t think it is, because every JW wants a couple, plus family and inactive. They already printed over 200 million copies of the old NWT. So 50 million may be a conservative estimate.

By not printing German, Spanish or French versions they may have cut the cost by around a half. But it raises a lot of questions. Will they stop printing English Bibles next?

slimboyfat

No Japanese, Polish, Russian or Tagalog either, all languages with large numbers of JWs.

It’s difficult to escape the conclusion that Watchtower is avoiding printing the NWT in major languages. I think this must be for reasons of cost. I can’t think of any other reason the NWT can be translated into Gun, Ewe and Amharic, and so on, but not into Spanish, German, French, Japanese, Tagalog, Russian, Polish.

In fact the only major languages outside English (in terms of JW numbers) I would say are Italian and Portuguese. In the case of Portuguese it was released the same time as English, before the financial crisis struck. So even the exceptions prove the rule.

The case for financial crisis mounts.

Wonderment

slimboyfat,

You may be right that the WT is holding back from releasing the NWT in these three popular languages.

I doubt very much that their delay is due to technical difficulties in the translation process. The may have put less people to work on these languages, comparatively speaking. Releasing the Spanish version, in particular, will be costly.

Wonderment

SBF,

The Russian web page shows the Gray Bible, but not in front page. In the case of Polish and Finnish languages, those two have a reputation of being complex. They may need more time, unless is cost again for the delay.

paradiseseeker

Here in Spain I can say that there were some rumours about the Spanish version being released in 2015. Even the last speaker at the convention said "sorry, we don't have it".

The following years there was some expectation but not as strong as in 2015.

By now I believe that the general mood is we just don't give a fuck.

slimboyfat

Maybe the NWT 2013 will never be released in Spanish. The only reason for delay I can think is cost. And you need to ask yourself, is Watchtower’s financial position likely to improve or worsen in the coming months and years? From every possible angle (assets already sold, abuse claims mounting, donations down because no literature) their finances are going to get worse not better. So if they can’t afford to print the NWT in Spanish now, when will they ever be able to afford it?

It would be a startling admission of financial collapse if they can’t print the Bible in Spanish and other languages. But the withdrawal of the Yearbook after 90 years continuous publication was also undoubtedly due to cost.

i wonder when the latest copies of the Bible in English were printed? These may stop being produced soon too.

Unless Watchtower has some sort of dramatic reversal of course. But I don’t see where it would come from at the moment.

slimboyfat

Same in Germany paradiseseeker, there were rumours that the new NWT was ready to go, and a similar announcement at the convention that “we don’t have it”.

They cant afford it! There can be no other explanation.

New World Translation REVISED Editions

Share this