Translate your church service into Russian

Who speaks Russian in your church?

Russian is rarely the first language a British church thinks of, yet it is one of the most widely shared languages among people who have moved here from Eastern Europe. Since the Baltic states joined the EU in 2004, many Latvians, Lithuanians and Estonians have settled in English towns and across Ireland, and a good number of them spoke Russian at home. Moldovans, Belarusians, Georgians, Armenians and people from Kazakhstan or Uzbekistan often use Russian as a common language too, even when it is not their mother tongue.

Then there are Ukrainians. Many families who came under the Homes for Ukraine scheme, especially from the east and south of the country, spoke Russian at home before the war. Some still do. Others have deliberately switched to Ukrainian.

Russian and Ukrainian side by side

This is the part to handle with care. For some Ukrainians, Russian is simply the language of their childhood. For others, hearing it in church after what their country has been through is painful. Do not decide for them. Switch on both Ukrainian and Russian, and let each person choose on their own phone; nobody can see what anyone else picked. A quiet word from a host family ("you can choose Ukrainian or Russian, whichever you prefer") is usually all it takes.

Because a language only uses credits while someone is listening to it, adding Russian next to Ukrainian costs nothing on the Sundays nobody chooses it.

Russian-speaking churches and joint services

Russian-speaking Baptist, Pentecostal and evangelical congregations meet in London, Dublin and other cities, often in a borrowed church building on Sunday afternoon, and Russian Orthodox parishes serve others. Where a Russian-speaking congregation shares a building with a British church, a joint service at Christmas or Easter becomes possible. The British pastor preaches in English with Russian translation; when the Russian-speaking pastor preaches, the technician switches the speaker language to Russian with one tap and English speakers choose English. The same congregation can also use ChurchTranslate on its own, to offer English to spouses and to children who are more at home in English.

How listeners use it

1. 01
   Scan the QR code

   On the screen, in the notice sheet or on a card at the door. The page opens in the browser, with no account and nothing to install.

2. 02
   Choose Русский

   Listeners pick Russian from the languages your church has switched on, or type the name to find it.

3. 03
   Listen or read

   The translated voice follows the preacher a few seconds behind, with Cyrillic captions on screen. The original English can be shown alongside, which helps people who are learning English.

What to expect from the translation

The translation is into standard Russian, and it follows the line of a sermon, prayers and notices well. Bible names and church terms are the hardest part. Orthodox and evangelical Russian speakers do not always use the same words, and an automatic translation will not always pick the one a listener knows. ChurchTranslate keeps a terminology list per language and corrects known terms in the captions, but it is not perfect. See Bible names and terms.

Cost

A 90-minute service into Russian uses 90 credits, however many people listen. With Ukrainian alongside it is at most 180 credits, and less when one of the two has no listeners for part of the service. The Duo plan (€100 per month, 960 credits) covers four such Sundays. See the pricing.