About the Project

According to the Deaf Bible Society, there are over 400 sign languages in use around the world today. Yet not one of these groups has a full Bible in their language and only 2 percent have heard the gospel!

In Thailand, a small community of Deaf believers is working hard to translate a set of chronological Bible stories into their own language.

So far the team has successfully completed several stories and they look forward to seeing even greater results as God continues to use their work to transform lives.

You can help the Chronological Bible Translation team reach the Thai Sign Language community for the first time with the hope of God’s Word!

400+ sign languages exist around the world.

136 sign languages are officially documented.

One sign language has a complete New Testament — American Sign Language.

70 million people use a sign language as their first or only language.

Only two percent of the world’s Deaf have been introduced to the gospel.

Zero sign languages have a complete Bible.

The Deaf

The Deaf have suffered a long history of misunderstanding and discrimination. But the Thai Sign Language community is finding hope in God’s Word.
Scripture for the Deaf

Pastor

He first learned about the Bible at a Deaf church where people struggled to read. As a result, false teaching had taken root.
He Found Truth

Leader

With a Deaf woman leading the translation team, the Thai Sign Language community is growing more excited about the Bible.
Share Her Vision

Videographer

As a video editor for the Chronological Bible Translation team, he knows the unique challenges of translating the Bible into a sign language.
Here's What It's Like

Consultant

His enthusiasm and confidence were crushed when he failed as a Deaf church planter. But God turned Mark’s weaknesses into an unexpected strength.
Read His Story

Bible Stories in Sign: A Look at One Team’s Translation Process

Ever wondered what it’s like to translate the Bible into a sign language? Here’s how one team does it.

An illustration of a man and a woman demonstrating Thai sign language

Bible Stories in Sign: A Look at One Team’s Translation Process

By Matt Petersen

Ever wondered what it might be like to translate the Bible into a sign language? If questions like this keep you up at night, maybe you should be a Bible translator! But even if languages aren’t your thing, we bet you’ll be intrigued by this outline of one team’s translation process. And you might learn something new about Thai Sign Language while you’re at it!
Step 1: Sketch

When the Chronological Bible Translation team is ready to translate a new Bible story into their language, the first thing they do is discuss the details of the story and sketch it out visually. This includes analyzing details like the location, the characters and the key events.
Step 2: Role-play

During this process the team role-plays the story so that everyone can visualize the details and lock it down in their minds. They also switch roles so that everyone gets to feel what it’s like to be each person in the scene.
Step 3: Record

Once they have the story sketched out, it’s time to record a first draft on video. The team expects this first draft to be rough, so they do it in one take, with the on-screen signer telling the story naturally as they remember it from the sketch.
Step 4: Analyze

Next they project the video on the wall of the recording studio and compare that telling of the story with what they read in the Thai Bible. If they see details that are incorrect or missing from the video, they quickly re-film those bits and edit the new clips over the original. It’s rough, but it works at this stage.
Step 5: Check

Once they’re confident that the draft is accurate, they travel to one of the Deaf communities in Thailand to see how well others can understand the video. This step is really important. Although signs can vary a bit from region to region, the team wants to make sure everyone can adequately understand the final product.
Step 6: Correct

Next the team members discuss any problems they discovered during the community testing. Then they work together to solve those problems, adjusting the translation for better comprehension. Finally they re-film the entire story.
Step 7: Check Again

A consultant now visits the team to review the draft and make corrections. The consultant will also do a second community test to make sure the new draft is clear. The team then revises and re-films the story and sends the new draft to the consultant.
Step 8: Finish!

Finally, when the consultant has no more changes, the story is done!