An audiobook Bible for tribal Malaysians in Kota Kinabalu
After a year and a half of work, a Kadazan language version is available for the members of small ethnic groups in Sabah State. For Archbishop Joseph Marino, apostolic nuncio to Malaysia, the project is "a significant event in the life of the Church in Kota Kinabalu”, giving many people access to “the history of salvation.”
Kota Kinabalu (AsiaNews) – The decision to produce audio Bibles in indigenous Malaysian languages is now a reality.
“This is a significant event for the life of the Church in Kota Kinabalu,” said Mgr Joseph Marino, apostolic nuncio to Malaysia, after the audiobook version of the Bible in Kadazan language was released earlier this month. The latter is spoken by some ethnic minorities in Malaysia’s Sabah State.
"This audio tool will enable many more people to have access to the Bible,” added the prelate. The latter “is the source of the stories of our faith, of the history of salvation. It is the source of our life, the Church coming out of herself to meet the world and undertake its missionary purpose”.
It all began in 2014 when some parishioners in the diocese of Kota Kinabalu discovered Faith Comes by Hearing International (FCBH), an international not-for-profit recording company that has produced audio Bibles in 977 languages spoken by six billion people.
After inquiring, Kota Kinabalu Catholics realised that the New Testament was not available in the Kadazan and Dusun languages.
With the help of Louise Rose of the FCBH, they worked for a year and a half to produce 10,000 Gospel texts in the Kadazan language with some 30 people lending their voice. Recordings in Dusun are still ongoing and should be completed later this year.
Multilingual versions of the Bible can be downloaded anywhere in the world from www.Bible.is.
During the Mass celebrated for the recordings’ launch, Archbishop Marino cited Pope Francis’ Evangelii Gaudium Apostolic Exhortation, noting that “the primary reason for evangelising is the love of Jesus which we have received, the experience of salvation which urges us to ever greater love of him. What kind of love would not feel the need to speak of the beloved, to point him out, to make him known?” (n 264).
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