Scholars urge correct reading of Urdu Bible

(July 29, 2010) Theologians are encouraging Pakistani Christians to pronounce words in the Urdu Bible correctly, as mispronunciations could lead to listeners misinterpreting the text. “The pronunciation of Urdu words and terms in the Bible has been largely left unexplored and more than 90 percent of pastors and priests use the wrong pronunciation,” said Younas Amir, a renowned theologian who produced the first Urdu Bible dictionary in 1999. Urdu is Pakistan’s national language. Amir was speaking at a July 24-25 workshop on the principles of pronunciation organized by the Catholic Bible Commission of Pakistan at Notre Dame Institute of Education in Karachi. About 150 Catholics including catechists, Sunday school teachers and lectors attended. Speakers warned that incorrect pronunciation of words often changes the meaning of the biblical passage being read out. “We need to preserve the holiness of the word of God,” said Amir. The workshop is the first in a series of programs to promote Bible reading in Karachi archdiocese. The Catholic Bible Commission of Pakistan (CBCP) plans to organize such events twice a year in the country’s six dioceses and one vicariate. The CBCP is currently organizing a project that involves 100,000 Catholics committing to read the entire Bible in one year. It also plans to organize a ”Bible marathon” next year in which Bible readings will take place over an entire week. Meanwhile, the Pakistan Bible Society claims that Bible readership has increased in recent years. Last year they supplied 310,407 Bibles.