On 7 October 2011 a round table dedicated to the release of the New Testament in the Nogai language, published by the Institute for Bible Translation, was held in Cherkessk. Those present included the Nogai linguists, participants in the Nogai Bible translation project: M.Bulgarova and S.Kukaeva, philologists-researchers of the Karachay-Cherkess Institute of Humanitarian Studies and L.Aybazova, an employee of the Karachay-Cherkess Institute for Advanced Educational Training. Also present were representatives of the Government of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic: E.Kratov, the
Authorized Representative for relations with religious organizations, and N.Suyunova, the Minister for National Affairs and Mass Communications.
The project participants told how in the process of translating the New Testament into the Nogai language they constantly had to solve problems. These were not only related to spelling, word formation, and the establishment of consistent religious terminology, but also to such questions as the translation of proper names, and striking a balance between the use of literary language and of dialectal features. In their opinion the decisions they reached have made a significant contribution to the development and enrichment of the Nogai language and have encouraged a trend in Nogai language studies towards linguistic and textual research. Thanks to this work on the translation of the New Testament, the vocabulary of religious terminology has been revived. And in the new Nogai-Russian dictionary that is being prepared for publication in the Karachay-Cherkess Institute of Humanitarian Studies religious terminology is being included.
A well-known Nogai writer Isa Kapaev, taking part in the discussion, said: "There is a tradition that the prayers of the Bible were translated into Nogai in the 13th century on the recommendation of Khan Nogai, one of the rulers of the Golden Horde, whose name gave rise to the name of our people. The first attempt at translating the New Testament (in Arabic script) was made in the 19th century by the Scottish Mission in the Caucasus, but the fate of this publication is now unknown to us.” Isa Kapaev noted the high quality of the present translation and of the production of the book itself. He expressed his hope that in any future editions the glossary would be expanded, and that in the preface a special place should be given to a historical review of what was done in this area in Nogai and other related Turkic languages in pre-revolutionary times.
