When The Bible was Translated into Common Languages

Ancient Era: The First Common Languages (3rd Century BCE – 5th Century CE)

In antiquity, the Bible was proactively translated into the regional trade languages (lingua francas) of the Mediterranean and Near East: 

• Greek (The Septuagint) – c. 3rd Century BCE: The Hebrew Old Testament was translated into Greek in Alexandria, Egypt, because many Jewish communities of the diaspora could no longer speak Hebrew and relied on Greek for daily commerce. 
• Syriac & Coptic – c. 2nd Century CE: Shortly after the New Testament was completed, early Christians translated the scriptures into Syriac (a form of Aramaic) and Coptic (the language of everyday Egypt). 
• Latin (The Vulgate) – c. 382–405 CE: Commissioned by the Pope, St. Jerome translated the Bible from original languages into Latin. At the time, Latin was the "vulgar" or common language of ordinary people across the Western Roman Empire. 

Medieval Era: Regional Vernaculars (12th – 15th Century)

As the centuries progressed, Latin ceased to be a spoken language for the common public, evolving instead into distinct Romance languages. Despite the Roman Church’s political resistance to breaking from Latin, early regional translators stepped forward: 

• Early European Languages (1100s–1200s): The Bible was translated into distinct local renderings including Middle English (c. 1150), Castilian Spanish (c. 1280), Catalan (c. 1287), and French (c. 1297). 
• English (The Wycliffe Bible) – 1384: John Wycliffe spearheaded the first full translation of the Bible into English from the Latin Vulgate so ordinary people could read it, heavily influencing early English literacy.
• German (Pre-Lutheran) – 1400s: Fourteen different editions of the Bible were already translated and available in local German dialects prior to the Protestant Reformation.

Protestant Reformation: Mass Printing (16th – 17th Century)

The combination of the Protestant Reformation and the invention of the Gutenberg printing press catalyzed a massive explosion of common-language Bibles:  

• German (Luther Bible) – 1522–1534: Martin Luther translated the New Testament (and later the full Bible) directly from ancient Greek and Hebrew into ordinary spoken German, standardizing the modern German language.
• English (Tyndale and the King James Version) – 1526–1611: William Tyndale published the first modern English New Testament translated from original languages in 1526. This laid the structural groundwork for the iconic King James Version (1611), which became the standard English Bible for centuries. 

Early Printed and Translated Bibles (Pre-1600s)

Italian: The first printed Italian Bible (translated by Niccolò Malermi) appeared in 1471.
Czech: The complete Bible was first printed in 1488 (the Prague Bible).
French: The first printed French Bible (by Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples or earlier/associated versions) was completed in 1530 (Olivétan Bible in 1535).
German: The complete Bible was printed in High German by Martin Luther in 1534.
English: Myles Coverdale printed the first complete English Bible in 1535.
Spanish: The first complete printed Spanish Bible (the Biblia del Oso) was published in 1569. 

Major World Languages (17th–19th Century)

Hindi: The complete Bible was translated and printed by William Carey's mission in 1818. 
Arabic: The entire Bible was first printed in Arabic in 1591 (Rome), and later refined in Beirut in 1865 (Smith-Van Dyck version).
Russian: The complete Bible in Russian was officially published and printed in 1876 after a long translation delay.
Japanese: The complete Protestant Bible in Japanese was published in 1887.
Chinese: The complete Bible was printed in Chinese via early Morrison/Marshman translations and later versions like the Chinese Union Version in 1919.

Language	Year (First Full Bible)	Notable Details / Key Milestone
Arabic	859	Earliest Gospel manuscripts date to 859 CE. First printed full Bible by the Roman Catholic Church in 1671.
English	1382	Translated by John Wycliffe (1382); William Tyndale printed the first NT from original Greek in 1526.
Italian	1471	First printed Italian translation by Nicolò Malermi.
German	1534	Martin Luther completed his translation from the original languages.
French	1535	Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples (portions in 1530) and Pierre Robert Olivétan (full Bible, 1535).
Spanish	1569	The Biblia del Oso ("Bible of the Bear") by Casiodoro de Reina.
Indonesian / Malay	1733	Translated by Melchior Leijdecker; this was the first translation of the complete Bible into a language of Southeast Asia.
Portuguese	1753	Translated by João Ferreira de Almeida (New Testament published earlier in 1681).
Bengali	1809	Translated by William Carey and his team at Serampore.
Hindi	1818	William Carey translated the New Testament in 1811 and the full Bible by 1818 (revised editions followed in 1835).
Chinese (Mandarin)	1822	Joshua Marshman published a version in 1822; Robert Morrison and William Milne published theirs in 1823.
Turkish	1827	Translated by Ali Bey (Wojciech Bobowski) in the 17th century but not published until 1827.
Urdu	1843	Henry Martyn translated the New Testament into Urdu script in 1814; the complete Bible was finished in 1843.
Persian (Farsi)	1846	Translated entirely by William Glen and Thomas Robinson.
Russian	1876	The Russian Synodal Bible was the first complete translation authorized by the Orthodox Church.
Japanese	1887	Karl Gützlaff attempted a partial translation in 1837, but the first full Bible wasn't completed until 1887 by a committee.
Swahili	1891	Translated by Bishop Edward Steere in East Africa.
Tagalog	1905	Ang Biblia was published by the American Bible Society following the Spanish-American War.
Korean	1911	The full Bible was published after decades of work by local scholars and missionaries (Ross Version NT was 1887).
Vietnamese	1926	Translated by Protestant missionary Albert Buxton Cadman.

Modern Era Languages (20th Century)

Many major regional or indigenous languages around the world received their first printed complete Bibles during the 20th century as part of the modern Bible translation movement led by groups like Wycliffe Bible Translators.