Emerging Bible Translation Tools
- ETEN Innovation Lab
- 25 minutes ago
- 6 min read
Updates on the Journey to Adoption
What is current Bible translation without the invention of the printing press? What if laptops and cell phones didn’t exist? What if translators in remote locations couldn’t use Starlink to access the internet or WhatsApp to communicate with team members? How many language groups would still be waiting for understandable Scripture if previous generations had not embraced new translation technologies?
Innovation has long shaped what is possible in Bible translation. Many of the tools now considered essential were once unfamiliar and moved through the stages of exploration before being adopted across the movement. Today, new tools are emerging to support translation efforts as ETEN works toward the All Access Goals by 2033.
From AI-assisted drafting and translation refinement to oral workflows and language resources, partners throughout the ETEN network are exploring new ways to address barriers and increase pace. Here is a look at some of the tools currently in the developing and utilizing stages as we pray for future acceleration.
Tools in the Developing Stage
Tools in the developing stage have been found favorable during experimentation and are being refined through testing and feedback in real-world translation contexts. While being evaluated for broader adoption, these tools are helping teams explore new approaches and identify what is needed for future scaling.
Fluent
Fluent is a free and open, easy-to-use, AI-powered, multimodal platform designed to support the Bible translation workflow throughout the entire process, from drafting to publishing.
Recent testing has provided encouraging feedback from translation teams. After being invited to test the web application in April, two teams continued using it beyond the initial evaluation period, citing the simplicity of the drafting and peer-checking experience as a key strength. Their continued use suggests the tool is addressing practical needs even as development continues.
Next priorities include:
Preparing the mobile application for broader release.
Introducing AI translation suggestions within the web app for further testing.
BT Servant
BT Servant is a WhatsApp chatbot that offers translators curated biblical and translation resources to help them understand the Bible on a platform they already use regularly.
A major milestone this year was the launch of BT Servant version 2 and its accompanying website. The updated version introduces new modes, including Translation Coach, DBS Coach, and FIA support, while expanding the tool to assist users across the understand – translate – refine workflow. Development has been shaped through collaboration with multiple partners and feedback from translators who tested earlier versions.
Next priorities include:
Strengthening support for Oral Bible Translation workflows.
Expanding FIA training capabilities.
Continuing to refine the tool based on user feedback.
LangQuest
LangQuest is a mobile-first application designed for rapid translation data collection through offline text, image, and audio workflows. It is particularly useful in low-resource contexts where internet access and technology infrastructure may be limited.
A significant milestone this year was surpassing 200,000 recordings collected since January. Much of this growth has come through partners and language communities adopting the tool on their own initiative, demonstrating strong demand for accessible data collection workflows in remote settings. These real-world use cases are helping shape future development while providing valuable insights into how translation data can be gathered more effectively.
Next priorities include:
Adding community-based quality assurance features to the app.
Strengthening support for oral Bible translation and FIA workflows.
Sustaining rapid growth responsibly, while continuing to develop new AI-assisted capabilities.
Aquilla (formerly Codex)
Aquilla is built on AI from the ground up and is an AI-assisted translation editor designed to complement LangQuest and support a wide range of translation workflows by adding structure, searchability, and flexibility across a variety of applications from Bible content to video subtitles.
The most significant recent update is the transition from Codex to Aquilla, accompanied by a shift from a desktop application to a fully web-based platform. This change reflects lessons learned during experimentation and makes the tool more accessible across devices while simplifying project setup for partners. Aquilla is now supporting more than a thousand users across hundreds of active projects, providing valuable opportunities to learn how the platform performs in diverse translation contexts.
Next priorities include:
Completing the migration of existing projects to the new web application.
Supporting several major translation projects that represent a different kind of real-world test of the tool’s readiness for utilization.
Continuing to strengthen AI-assisted drafting, translation quality signals, and terminology management features.
Tools in the Utilizing Stage
Tools in the utilizing stage have proven to be valuable in multiple real translation contexts and are being applied more broadly across the Bible translation movement. While development continues, these tools are already supporting translation work and providing insights that can inform wider adoption.
Aquifer
Aquifer is a growing collection of trustworthy, openly licensed digital Bible resources designed to support global translation efforts.
Recent analytics show increasing adoption among translation teams, with new projects utilizing Aquifer resources across Africa, Southeast Asia, and South America. The move to make resources available on GitHub has also expanded access, particularly for users who value the ability to work directly with resource files. At the same time, new partnerships are helping strengthen resource quality and credibility, including ongoing collaboration to review and improve Arabic translation resources.
Next priorities include:
Expanding key resources into major gateway languages.
Completing additional translationNotes content.
Building new partnerships with publishers and content creators to make more high-quality, open-licensed resources available to translation teams.
Vachan Engine
Vachan Engine is a server application that offers interfaces for seamless interaction with central databases and modules within its ecosystem. It caters to a diverse range of client applications in the realm of Scripture engagement. Current services include text translation, speech-to-text, text-to-speech, speech-to-speech, voice cloning, audio segmentation, and noise removal.
A recent development has expanded the platform's AI capabilities by adding a generic large language model (LLM) API. This allows users to access both general prompting and text translation workflows, with options for simple translation, example-based translation, and custom prompting. The platform continues to combine self-hosted AI models with high-performing open-source models to support translation teams in a variety of contexts.
Next priorities include:
Strengthening API key-based authentication, which is in testing.
Improving system resilience through load balancing.
Enhancing deployment processes to ensure services remain scalable and available as demand grows.
Greek Room
Greek Room is an AI-assisted translation checking initiative focused on improving translation quality, consistency in spelling and terminology, and workflow efficiency through automated analysis and review tools for multilingual and low-resource environments.
Recent work has included support for 15 translation projects, migration of the platform to a cloud-hosted environment, and continued development of tools that help identify potential issues related to key terms, omissions, names, quantities, and parallel passages. Progress has also been made on a new Bible translation-focused word aligner, with English–Mandarin serving as the pilot language pair, which will help strengthen multilingual analysis and checking capabilities in the future.
Next priorities include:
Releasing updated Wildebeest checking tools for broader use.
Supporting integration with Fluent.
Continuing implementation and refinement of the word aligner.
Serval and Scripture Forge
Serval is a platform-independent, open-source AI model that learns from a translation team's previous work to generate drafts aligned with their terminology and style. Its neural machine translation is built on Meta’s NLLB-200 model, which supports over 200 languages and can be fine-tuned for new minority languages, making it especially valuable for low and medium resource contexts. Serval powers AI drafting across multiple platforms, including Scripture Forge, now used in close to 500 projects.
Draft generation continues to gain momentum among translation teams. One encouraging sign is that early adopters (working with New Testament drafts) are beginning to experiment with different source projects and workflows to evaluate draft quality and identify the approaches that work best in their context. This growing confidence suggests that AI-assisted drafting is becoming an increasingly familiar part of the translation process for some teams.
Next priorities include
Expanding Oral Bible Translation research.
Introducing additional self-service features.
Extending AI-powered checking tools.
As lessons from developing tools continue to inform future improvements and utilizing tools expand their impact, the Bible translation movement is adapting to address barriers and continue working toward the day when the All Access Goals are complete.
Interested in testing one of these emerging tools in your translation context? Contact us at lab@eten.bible and we will connect you with the appropriate team.