“The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter. ’tis the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.” Mark Twain

Few writers would disagree with Mr. Twain on this matter. Word-choice is important, and it is no simple matter. That is especially so when you are working – simultaneously – in fifteen languages.

On October 9 (Canadian Thanksgiving), CSM announced that 20,000 books were about to go to press in fifteen languages. One small step remained, and we could say, “go.” Since that announcement, we have bumped into a few challenges that have proven that one, small step was not-so-small after all. Word-choice, as it turns out, was only one of them.

Perhaps we should not have been surprised by this. The process involves multiple variables. Because we have printed books in Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, and Communist countries, each press run can present unique challenges. There can be issues of translation accuracy, design work, press capacities, copyright law, legal constraints printing religious materials, software compatibility issues when transferring files, and more. We have published more than 350,000+ books using printers in 10 different countries for distribution in more than 30 countries; we imagined that we had seen most of the potential problems already.

Not so.

This project has introduced new issues that we had not seen before, and a few new twists on old problems as well. Thankfully, however, with the help of some exceptionally patient and professional people who moved into the project as “problem solvers,” twelve of the fifteen books are now press ready. We will complete the remaining three languages in a few days. That means that next week (God willing) books will be coming off the press in India.