 The Berlin missionaries in South Africa, particularly Alexander Merensky, Knothe, Trümpelmann, Schwellnus and Eiselen, contributed to the study of African languages, producing Bible translations and hymnals.It was at Botshabelo that the missionary R.F Güstav Trümpelmann, with the invaluable assistance of his erstwhile student, Abraham Serote, translated the Bible into Sepedi (Northern Sotho).The publication in 1904 by the British and Foreign Bible Society of this combined effort was the first complete Bible in an indigenous language.