Switching Languages in the Gospel Library {Tutorial}

One of the best ways to integrate your adopted language into your daily life is to do some of your scripture study in it. Additionally, reading the scriptures in another language is a great way to see familiar passages in a new light. Using the Church's Gospel Library app for this is actually really easy. I'm using an iPhone, but I would imagine that it would be similar on Android devices.



First, pull up the bookmarks. Make sure you have at least one English bookmark set. The bookmark icon is in the bottom left corner; it looks like a little ribbon.

Tap the ribbon to pull up the bookmarks menu. If you don't have at least one bookmark set in your English scriptures, do that now. Next to the word "bookmarks" at the top, there's a +. Tap it, and give your bookmark a name.

Setting a new bookmark should take you back to where you were reading, and there should be a yellow ribbon with the name of your bookmark showing on your place. If you tap the ribbon, it will slide off to the side so you can see the text of the scriptures.

Now you're ready to switch to your study language. Use the pull down menu to find the settings.

In the setting menu, you'll see an option for "languages" near the top of the list. It should start out set to English.

There are a lot of options. They're in order by the English name of the language -- so Japanese, for instance, is under J, and not at the end of the list with non-roman characters.

Select your language by tapping on it. This will change the whole app to the new language, but don't panic: all you need to get back to English is the bookmark that we did at the beginning. You'll only need to go through the settings menu one time. Once you have selected your language, then all the content currently available in that language will be displayed. Some languages have tons; others have much less. The scriptures will be at the top of the list. Tap the first icon to see what scriptures are in your language.

For Japanese, the Gospel Library includes the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. You can get a Bible through the Distribution Center, but I'm guessing that there's some copyright issue, because it's not in the app. The reading level of the Book of Mormon is easier than the other volumes of scripture, so that's what I suggest reading first. Be patient with yourself: it's ok to only read a tiny bit. When I started reading the Book of Mormon in Japanese I could only read a sentence at a time, and had to work up to reading whole verses. I'm now in Jacob, and I occasionally have verses that I can read without looking up more than one or two words, which is really exciting. This process can be very slow, but there's no better way to invite the Holy Ghost into your study than to read the scriptures, however slowly, in the new language.

So I have three volumes of scripture to choose from; the Book of Mormon is at the top of the list.

Selecting the Book of Mormon gives me a list of the books in the volume. The Title Page, Testimony of the Witnesses, and so on are the first line. 1 Nephi is the second line. That's where I like to start.

Next you choose a chapter; I choose chapter 1.

And there you are: "I Nephi, having been born of goodly parents..."

At this point, you set up another bookmark. It's exactly the same as before: tap the ribbon, tap the + sign, name your bookmark.

At this point, when you look at your bookmarks menu, you'll have at least two: the one in the English scriptures, and the one in your second language. You can use them the switch back and forth between languages without having to mess around with the settings menu: the bookmarks do all the work for you.