Book of Mormon Now in 80 Languages

Book of Mormon Now in 80 Languages

The Book of Mormon, originally translated into English by the Prophet Joseph Smith, is now published in eighty languages.

The book of scripture, which has the subtitle “Another Testament of Jesus Christ,” was translated into six new languages during 1987: Akan (Fante), Papiamento, Pohnpeian, Tagalog, Trukese, and Zulu.

In addition, a complete Book of Mormon has been published in modern Greek. Only excerpts from the book had previously been available in that language.

Akan (Fante) is spoken in Ghana by some three million people. There are approximately five thousand Latter-day Saints in the country.

The Papiamento language is spoken in the Dutch-controlled islands of the Lesser Antilles—Curacao, Aruba, and Bonaire. It is spoken by some 200,000 people, about 250 of them members of the Church.

Pohnpeian is the language of Pohnpei Island in the western Pacific. The island is some 2,200 miles east of the Philippines and 3,100 miles southwest of Honolulu. Pohnpeian is spoken by 24,000 people, 700 of whom are Latter-day Saints.

Although English is the most widely spoken and written language in the Philippines, Tagalog is the national language. It is the primary language of five million people and the second language of another thirty-seven million. The Church has some 127,000 members in the Philippines.

Trukese is spoken by 28,000 people, including 1,200 Latter-day Saints, in the Truk Islands. The Truk Islands are located in the Pacific, some 1,800 miles east of the Philippines.

Zulu is spoken by seven million people, most of them concentrated in southeastern South Africa. The Church has about fourteen thousand members throughout South Africa.