How many languages?

There are reported to be over 300 languages spoken by people living in the UK ...and many more that aren't reported anywhere.

There is a lot more to people than where they are from and what language they speak, but language is often a key part of people's identity and New-Neighbour-Bible.org exists to help encourage linguistic hospitality and provide a much needed place to point to Christian resources.

Over the coming months this page will expand with information about some of those people and languages, together with where to find more information, Bibles and resources.

The public census information for England and Wales only includes 95 language categories –  77 languages and 18 groupings of ‘other’. You can search for the locations of speakers of a specific language using maps provided by the Office of National Statistics.
 

Scotland and Norther Ireland have separate censuses. The 2022 data from Scotland  lists about 80 languages spoken by 100 or more people, another 90 with 10 or more speakers. It also states that 1800 people speak or sign something other than these (so at least another 200-300 languages!). Northern Ireland only reported on languages reported by over 1000 users.

The most detailed information comes from national schools censuses looking at the languages spoken in the homes of pupils in Britain but even in that list there are categories that cover multiple languages.  

Finding Bibles and resources

Digital copies of the Bible or New Testament, along with audio versions and films of the gospels can be found via YouVersion, Faith Comes By Hearing, and a range of other sources. Both Scripture Earth and Find.Bible provide further links and there are details of 50 languages here on New Neighbour (not all known to be spoken in Britain).

Print copies can be harder to locate which is why we'll be doing further research on what's available.

Here's a list of some suppliers and the number of languages they were listing materials in at the start of 2025. For some if they don't have a product listed they may be able to point you to someone who does.

British and Foreign Bible Society (England and Wales) - 20 languages
Scottish Bible Society - refers people looking for other Bibles to BFBS and Chapter Two 
Bible Society Northern Ireland - 'large selection' contact to check
Eden.co.uk - 38 languages
Chapter Two Books - 142 languages

A number of organisations specialise in ministry to a particular group, so it's not just about who has the most resources but about who has what you need.

(Updated Feb, 2025 - stay tuned for further updates)