Can I edit the language of a Bible translation?

I just downloaded a bunch of translations in different languages. However, for 90% of them, it is basically impossible to know what I own since the language is listed so oddly.

Really all the Bibles were like this, but as an example, the NT in the language "Borna" is categorized by Logos as the language "bwo" on the product page, and then yet another way as "boro" in the Logos app.

I tried to go into the information of this book in the Logos app and change the language to "Borna" but there doesn't seem to be a way to do this. Is this possible?

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DMB

Well, you can't edit the metadata. You can re-title and the change the library/tab abbreviation.

The example you gave appears to be the ISO 639 ID (BWO).

Kristin

Hi @DMB, if I am understanding correctly, that would just change the title of the book but would not influence how it is sorted in the library. Correct? My main issue is not this book, but rather that if I go to my Library and look at the Bible section and sort by language, instead of showing me Bibles sorted by actual languages, it has Bibles sorted by these fake languages, like "Boro." If there is no way to fix that, I wonder if it needs to be reported as an error or something, as that isn't functional for my library to be sorted like that.

In a few years if I am wondering if I have a translation in Borna and search my library, I would think I don't have anything in that language. Granted, with this specific example, I think I will always remember that "Boro" is code for "Borna," but the issue is that there are a bunch of these translations marked like this.

DMB

Depends on how you sort your library. If you sort title, then it'll sort user-edited title (desktop). Web and mobile ignore user titles.

All my Bibles are re-titled; also all my commentaries. So, I can custom-group them. And the benefit also shows up in drop-down choices sorted by my edited titles.

The other issue is that it's hard to see the future in Bible software. I can easily foresee linquistic tools that use those standard IDs.

Kristin

Hi @DMB, Thanks for clarifying this, and I think maybe I should report this. While that is true that it wouldn't be an issue if sorted by title, the problem is that I have a lot of Bible translations in random languages, and I am looking for a specific language without knowing the title or anything else.

Using the Borna example, the title of the book is "Handr Taara" and I can come close to a guarantee that I won't remember the title since I search for obscure translations so rarely. So there is no scenario where I would think "I wonder if I have Handr Taara, I better search my library," while there is a scenario where I would think "I wonder if I have any translation in Borna, I better search my library." I would then do so and discover I do NOT, since all I have is some language called "Boro," and I need "Borna" not "Boro."

As mentioned, this specific example is kind of unusual since we have been talking about it that I probably would remember "Boro" is code for "Borna," but with most of these obscure translations I downloaded, I literally have no idea what they are since the languages are categorized into a bunch of artificial languages nobody speaks.

Kristin

Btw - Here is another example which is even worse. Logos has the language as "bht" when the real language is Hindi. How would anyone guess that? Searching for the title भटियाली नोआ नियम is for sure not a practical way to see if I have a Hindi translation or not.

oh - I just notice in this screenshot it says that the Bibles were used with an "automated process," haha, AI strikes again, I see, and likely explains the language categories.

(Also, in case it helps anyone reviewing this, notice that the publisher is not the same for all of these "Open Bible" translations.)

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DMB

Good luck on that!

bht is Bhateali.

Kristin

Hi @DMB,

Just fyi, I did contact support and they were able to confirm that the issue had been caused by the automation. The rep I spoke with said he was not sure if this would be able to be corrected or not, but that he would send my info to the production team to see if the incorrect language designations can be repaired.

Bradley Grainger (Logos)

it has Bibles sorted by these fake languages, like "Boro."

"Boro" appears to be the name used by both Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinasha_language and Unicode CLDR https://github.com/unicode-org/cldr/blob/e68c49f624d7d9f093c8211ebdf26c82b25ebaf7/tools/cldr-code/src/main/resources/org/unicode/cldr/util/data/iso-639-3.tab#L1061

Logos stores all language codes as ISO 639-3 internally, then uses recognised data sources (such as CLDR) when showing them for display.

I'm not sure what problem you're reporting by calling it a "fake language". Are you saying that these sources are wrong and should be corrected? (I do see that Ethnologue lists "bwo" differently; it does appear that there's not a complete consensus on what the language should be called in English.)

(I can file a bug for the product page showing the "raw" ISO language code instead of a human-readable name.)

Kristin

Hi @Bradley Grainger (Logos),

Thank you for your response. The issue is that it wasn't just one or two resources, but the whole collection has odd names. For example, the languages listed are gaq, nnq, ahr, nix, bdv, etc, etc., while Logos translations are normally listed how the languages are known in English (or in whatever program language a Logos user is using).

Thank you for your help, but I actually already filed a report and the issue has already been moved up to a senior technician who agreed this is an issue and said Logos will correct this.

So I think it is being addressed now, but thank you again.