“The Chosen” is officially breaking its own records.
The first season of “The Chosen” is now available in 125 languages — a significant stride toward the biblical drama’s goal of reaching 600 languages and 1 billion viewers worldwide.
For the second time, the biblical drama has been recognized by Guinness World Records as the most-translated season of a streaming series in history. The feat comes shortly after the series received the same record in September for translations in 86 languages.
Michael Empric, the official adjudicator and spokesperson for Guinness World Records, presented the award for the world record to “The Chosen” cast at ChosenCon in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Friday, before thousands of attendees at the event.
“When we see numbers like this, they are able to provide a measuring stick for what’s happening, and we want to celebrate it,” Dallas Jenkins, creator and director of the series, told the audience. “All those languages mean lives changed. And so we don’t want to stop at 125.”
Some of the 125 subbed languages include Arabic, Bulgarian, Danish, Dutch, Flemish, Haitian, Hindi, Korean, Slovenian, Turkish and Vietnamese. Another 240 more language translations are currently in progress.
“The Chosen” has now surpassed — twice — the translations available for television hits such as “Friends,” “SpongeBob SquarePants” and “Baywatch.”
The achievement was largely made possible by the Come and See Foundation, an organization which helps fund and translate “The Chosen,” and aims to expand the series into 600 languages, which would make the show accessible to 95% of the world’s population.
“Because of global supporters and the extraordinary work of Come and See and their partners, I’m pretty sure this won’t be the last translation record we break,” said Dallas Jenkins, the creator and director of “The Chosen.”
While accepting the award, “The Chosen” team recognized the support given to the Come and See Foundation through donations, prayer and sharing the series — all of which is required to make the translation process possible.
The Come and See Foundation’s translation team is made up of theologians and linguists, as well as pastors and Bible experts, who all make certain the translations are accurate to each diverse culture, as previously reported by the Deseret News. For the dubbed translations, there is a team of voice actors who record the dialogue in each new language.
The translation team behind “The Chosen” plans to maintain its current pace and aims to make every translation available in a dubbed version, so viewers can hear the series in their own language, Wendi Lord, the lead of the translation team at Come and See, told the Deseret News.
It is no small feat: Translating six seasons of the series into 600 unique languages is equivalent to translating 33,000 episodes.
“We’re all about appealing to each person,” Lord said. “We reach people individually, day by day, and we see transformation in their personal lives and their faith walk because of the work we are doing.”
More than 280 million viewers in 175 countries have seen “The Chosen.” And the biblical drama’s reach continues to expand across the globe.
The fifth season of the series, which was largely crowdfunded, received donations from 105,000 individuals or groups from 150 different countries.
Expanding the series’ global reach — ultimately aiming to reach 1 billion viewers — and sharing the story of Jesus to a worldwide audience remain central to the Come and See Foundation’s mission.
“Breaking our own Guinness World Record would not be possible without the generosity of thousands of supporters from all around the world,” said James Barnett, CEO of Come and See.
“We are committed to translating and dubbing ‘The Chosen’ into 600 languages and making it accessible for all. People need to hear the story of Jesus in their own language, the language they speak, dream and pray in,” Barnett continued. “This recognition is a testament to our team of over 200 expert linguists, local theologians, pastors and biblical scholars from around the globe, working tirelessly to ensure our goal becomes a reality.”