Translation of 2020 “Always Rejoice”! Regional Convention Program

In July and August 2020, for the first time ever, the worldwide brotherhood will watch the same regional convention program during the same time period. To make this possible, the recordings of the program needed to be translated into over 500 languages. Typically, such a project would take a year or more to plan and complete. But because of circumstances resulting from the coronavirus pandemic, translators of the 2020 “Always Rejoice”! Regional Convention had less than four months to complete the work.

Translation Services and Global Purchasing at the World Headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses assisted with this monumental project. Translation Services noted that many of the translation teams needed more equipment to accomplish the task, especially high-quality microphones. Global Purchasing arranged to purchase 1,000 microphones and have them delivered to almost 200 locations.

To save money, the microphones were purchased in bulk, shipped to a central location, and then repackaged for delivery to locations around the globe. By purchasing in bulk, each microphone cost an average of $170 U.S., including shipping—a savings of more than 20 percent off retail costs.

Global Purchasing had to make these purchases and shipping arrangements during April and May 2020—a period when many businesses had limited operations because of the pandemic. Nevertheless, by the end of May, the majority of the remote translation offices, branch offices, and other translation locations had the needed equipment.

“There was good cooperation between Bethel departments and external providers throughout this project,” says Jay Swinney, who oversees Global Purchasing. “Only Jehovah’s spirit can unite our efforts in such an expedited and cost-effective way to support theocratic needs.”

Nicholas Ahladis, who works with Translation Services, states: “The translators who were under lockdown at the time were greatly encouraged to receive this equipment. Despite their isolation from other members of their translation team, they could collaborate sufficiently to translate and record the talks, dramas, and songs in over 500 languages.”

This project is one of many that were completed to produce the 2020 “Always Rejoice”! Regional Convention for the worldwide brotherhood. Your generous donations via donate.jw.org and other means made the purchase of these necessary things possible.