Our take: The Inuit people, who inhabit the Arctic regions of the U.S., Canada, Greenland and Russia, will soon, for the first time, have a complete Bible, translated into the aboriginal Inuktitut language. Unlike most other Bible translations, the Inuit Bible was not translated by non-native white missionaries or other language experts, but was translated entirely but native Inuktitut speakers, causing some challenges for the translation. The project, which began in 1978, is scheduled for release in the spring of 2012.
The Bible is by far the most translated book in history. Portions of the Old and New Testaments have been translated into more than 2,500 languages. According to United Bible Societies, the complete Bible has been rendered into 469 tongues as of 2010.
Add Inuktitut to that list.
Later this spring, an entire Bible in Inuktitut, the language of Inuit people and the most widely spoken aboriginal tongue in Canada's Arctic, will be dedicated at an igloo-shaped church in Nunavut, an autonomous region carved out of the Northwest Territories in 1999.
Begun in 1978, the massive task marks the first time in Canada that a translation of the whole Bible was accomplished entirely by native speakers of the language rather than by white missionaries.
Read more about the Inuit Bible from the Religion News Service.