Book of Mormon AudioBook MP3's in different Languages

mellerbeck-p40 · #1

I really enjoy listening to the Audio book version of the Book of Mormon. Do you think in the future different Language MP3's will be available for download/Streaming?

-Michael

#2

I know that the church sells the scriptures in audio form in other languages, but the person that was recorded for the MP3s is different then the audio CDs sold by the distrubution center.

tkaili-p40 · #3

This is a great idea. I look forward to the day that I will be able to listen to the Tongan translation of the Book of Mormon in my ipod.

Tevita

#4

If they have the Tongan CDs at the Distribution Center then you can buy them and rip them to your iPod/MP3/Zune/PDA or whatever. That is currently how I have my Portuguese scriptures on audio file.

tkaili-p40 · #5

Thank you for the suggestion. But as far as I know, the Distribution Center does not have an audio version of the Tongan Book of Mormon. Maybe the Church is working on it, but I don't know.

Tevita

reachtheworld-p40 · #6

If you're fluent, do it yourself! Why not? Making an audiobook is fairly easy. I've done it. You just read the book out loud. Make that your scripture study for a few months. And then post it online somewhere. If there was enough interest, it would be kind of fun to organize something like this, finding native speakers of all the various languages and producing BoM audio versions. I myself would be willing to organize a grassroots thing like that.

That is if the Church would be willing to not make a fuss about copyright.

WelchTC · #7

reachtheworld wrote:That is if the Church would be willing to not make a fuss about copyright.

I discussed this with the legal department that handles such requests. Here was their reply:

In accordance with instructions from the Scriptures Committee, to preserve the integrity and accuracy of the scriptures, our office has denied these types of requests. Requests by non-profit entities serving the handicapped have been approved pursuant to an agreement that will appropriately preserve accuracy.

Tom

mkmurray · #8

That's what I would have guessed. Accuracy is more the issue than copyright. We all know there is not always direct translation from one language to another. I imagine the Church would want to reserve the right to pick which phrase or word is used, by consulting many different speakers of the language and through inspiration.

Even then, direct translation may not be what is wanted anyhow. The languague you are translating to might have a way of describing the concept better through a phrase that is not a direct translation.

russellhltn · #9

mkmurray wrote:We all know there is not always direct translation from one language to another.

I'm missing something. I thought we were just talking about turning an existing translation into an audio book, not translating.

Still, there would have to be a review to insure the reader did a accurate job and didn't mis-speak.

WelchTC · #10

RussellHltn wrote: I'm missing something. I thought we were just talking about turning an existing translation into an audio book, not translating.

Still, there would have to be a review to insure the reader did a accurate job and didn't mis-speak.

I think that mis-speaking is the issue. It is so easy for someone to leave out a word, add a word, pronounce a word wrong, etc.

Tom