Why an Easy-to-Read Version?

The Easy-to-Read Version of the Bible was initially prepared to meet the special needs of the deaf and was first published as The English Version for the Deaf. Most people who can hear are not familiar with the difficulty that many deaf people experience in reading standard English, which is mainly due to their lack of exposure to spoken language early in life. Unlike their hearing peers, most deaf children have not acquired a large spoken vocabulary by the time they reach school age. This makes learning to read a much more difficult task for them. It is not easy for them to relate the written symbols they see with the spoken language those symbols represent. In addition, for many the knowledge of sign language influences their acquisition and use of spoken language.

With the help of consultants familiar with deaf communication patterns, the translators of The English Version for the Deaf attempted to match those patterns in English as closely as possible. They also benefited from testing done in different regions of the United States to determine a vocabulary familiar to most deaf readers. But the deaf are not the only ones with limited language experience. Children, people who learn English as a foreign language, and many others face similar difficulties in reading. For that reason, it was recognized early on that The English Version for the Deaf  would help many such people overcome or avoid the most common obstacles to reading with understanding. That's why it was also published as The Easy-to-Read Version. But it is the fact that this version was aimed at the deaf that explains its unique characteristics, which include short sentences, restricted vocabulary, and a high level of redundancy.

The first-draft work on The English Version for the Deaf was done by WBTC's in-house translators and deaf-language consultants. These included Ervin Bishop, a Greek New Testament scholar on the WBTC staff and Benton Dibrell, a specialist in American Sign Language and deaf communication. Also involved in the review of their work on the New Testament were Harvey Floyd, then head of the Department of Biblical Languages at David Lipscomb College and Everett Ferguson, professor of Greek and Church History at Abilene Christian University. Most of the first draft work on the Old Testament was done by David Stringham, an Old Testament Hebrew scholar on staff at WBTC, Benton Dibrell, and Billy Leavell, a deaf minister. Others involved in the review of their work were Pat Graham, Rick Marrs, Steve McKenzie, Wayne Pitard, and J.J.M. Roberts.

Besides The Easy-to-Read Bible there are some other English translations that owe their existence to The English Version for the Deaf, which was first published by Baker Book House. Baker also published the same text as The Easy-to-Read New Testament. Baker still publishes the EVD, but the ERV has been published by WBTC since 1989. The two titles continued to represent identical texts until recently. Following the publication of the EVD/ERV New Testament, Sweet Publishing got permission from WBTC to produce The International Children's Version and, later, the New Century Version based on WBTC's text. The New Testament was first published in 1981. Although Sweet had enlisted English stylists to smooth the text and an ecumenical panel of New Testament scholars to review the edited drafts and make suggestions, there were very few changes in content. Most of the changes involved a move toward more standard English style, i.e. less redundancy, and a more complex sentence structure.

After getting a good response to the ICV/NCV New Testament, Sweet wanted to proceed with the Old Testament, which WBTC was working on at the time. At first only those books that had gone through all the stages of translation, checking and editing were forwarded to them. However, since Sweet had assembled their own team of scholars and editors, and because they needed to move faster than WBTC's slower pace allowed, they persuaded WBTC to begin giving them the first drafts. This meant that many books of the Old Testament went through very different editing processes. The result is that the ICV/NCV Old Testament and WBTC's Easy-to-Read Old Testament are not as similar as the New Testaments were. In addition, both the ERV and the ICV/NCV have gone through several successive waves of editing that have further separated the two versions. This has been true especially of the NCV since its acquisition in the early '90s by Word and then by Nelson, who bought rights to the ICV/NCV texts that allowed them to make changes without the permission of WBTC.

The Easy-to-Read Version has also recently undergone a major revision precipitated by a number of factors. First of all, the target audience has changed. Although The English Version for the Deaf still meets the needs of the deaf community (and for that reason will still be published as is), most of the distribution of The Easy-to-Read Version is now geared toward evangelistic outreach to the hearing, whether domestic (such as ministries to prisons, the homeless, or children) or foreign. Most are used where English is spoken as a second language and where many are just learning or want to learn English. Although the deaf version makes the Word easily accessible to a foreign audience, it is not "standard" English, which makes it less than ideal for those who are already familiar with contemporary English style or who are seeking to learn or improve their English.

An additional need was to have a text suitable for oral reading, since many who understand spoken English are not literate. Obviously, that was not a consideration for the deaf version, but it has been a major concern for the revision. The style needs to have a natural "flow," so that the person reading it will not stumble over cumbersome phrasing or awkward syntax.

Some of the characteristics of the version for the deaf that needed to be changed for the hearing were obvious. The repetition proper names, preferred by many deaf people, is unnatural to the hearing. Also, the redundancy required by the need to maintain an explicit connection between one statement and the next becomes tedious to the hearing reader. While short sentences are more comfortable for the deaf, the unnatural breaks often create a distorted focus for others. Finally, the vocabulary of the EVD had to be severely restricted for most deaf readers in order to match corresponding "signs." This restriction brought about some strange coinages, such as "family groups" for "tribes," or "time of hunger" for "famine."

While all of these unique characteristics are helpful to the deaf, they are actually hindrances to many hearing readers. So our goal (and challenge) in the revision was to improve the style according to contemporary English standards, while keeping the meaning clear and easy to understand. Actually, the changes themselves have made the revision easier to read for most people, because they have given the text a more natural feel that makes it come alive. Also, it was possible to expand the vocabulary to include many more precise terms while keeping it within the range of easy English. It is our conviction that this revision of the ERV is even easier to read and certainly more dynamic and appealing than ever before, making it the perfect choice to reach the hearts and minds of a vast audience of English speakers throughout the world who need God's Word make plain and simple.

Besides improving the English style, the revised Easy-to-Read Version reflects a better understanding of many passages. This has been made possible, in part, by the greatly expanded resources now available to our translators. Also, these translators have benefited from their involvement in over 30 different language projects. As they compared the drafts of these translations with the original texts, they often noted how the same passages were translated in the Easy-to-Read Version, resulting in many improvements. In addition, the Easy-to-Read Version has benefited from input from numerous outside scholars who have served as consultants in the process of evaluating WBTC's translations.