An internship

at Bible translation nonprofit Wycliffe Associates has helped students land jobs at large tech firms, such as Google. Now, the local company is looking for about a dozen more interns.

A Bible translation internship that’s helped graduates land gigs at large tech firms such as Google is seeking its summer class.

The nonprofit Wycliffe Associates in Orlando plans to host about a dozen interns for eight weeks, as they work to build Android apps and software to speed up translations of the Bible into thousands of languages.

“It’s a long book and you need specialized software to translate it, all the way down to formatting, with verse markers and chapter markers,” said Mark Stedman, Wycliffe Associates vice president of information technology. “Sure, you can translate some with Microsoft Word, but it’s better to use tools specially designed for Bible translation.”

Wycliffe employs 15 software developers and engineers to build tech-based tools that help in the translation. Past interns have moved on to careers with some high-profile tech giants.

But the idea of the internship is not to teach coding, Stedman said. Interns will be men and women ages 19 to 25 who are in college or recently graduated and have some coding experience.

The internships will include meals and housing, he said.

“We will teach you how to code on a team with other people,” Stedman said.

Bible translation has been work in progress for decades.

Along with the emergence of personal computers in the 1980s came software that sped up that effort.

As it has, tech kept up, too, to help spread the Bible’s message to areas that might not otherwise be receptive to Christian teachings, Stedman said.

“It allows people to experience that Christian fellowship, especially in places where it can be challenging to meet up,” he said. “There are places where it’s tough to have traditional churches or steeples. “The Bible has been translated into more than 7,000 languages, with some being spoken by less than 10,000 people.

Details about the project are available at 8weeksofcode.org.

The group has already digitally translated the Bible into scores of conventional languages. But there remain thousands of languages that do not have translations, Stedman said.

Technology has helped spread the Bible’s word by creating more access points to those who seek its message, he said. “We have a super computer in our pocket at all times,” Stedman said. “With the Gospel, people have an entry point in their pockets that they can always access if they want it.”

“Sure, you can translate some with Microsoft Word, but it’s better to use tools specially designed for Bible translation.” Mark Stedman, Wycliffe Associates vice president of information technology