The Hmar New Testament’s 100 years: how translation shaped a language

The Hmar New Testament, translated a century ago by missionaries and Hmar scholars working shoulder to shoulder, turns 100 this year — and the anniversary is being marked as a literary event, not just a religious one.

The translation standardised a written Hmar, giving the scattered dialects a common literary home.

Scholars gather to read the old pages and marvel: ‘They gave us a language as much as a scripture.’