The Greek and Hebrew that is translated as “In the beginning” is translated in Lisu as ꓬꓲ ꓚꓰ ꓬꓲ ꓪꓴꓸ — yi tshe yi vu: “In very early times, when there were no people.” This construction follows a traditional four-couplet construct in oral Lisu poetry that is usually in the form ABAC or ABCB. The same phrase is also used as a title for the book of “Genesis.” (Source: Arrington 2020, p. 58)

In the most widely used Mandarin Chinese Bible translation, the Union Version, the term 太初 — tàichū is used in John 1:1 (but not for Gen. 1:1) — vice versa in the Yue Chinese (Cantonese) New Cantonese Bible of 1997, whereas in Hakka Chinese, 太初 — thai-chhû in Hakka — is used in both cases). Tàichū originally was used in early Daoist writings (Liezi, Zhuangzi — both 5th century BC) which is remarkable because of the connection with “dào” (道) in the same verse (see Word / Logos), suggesting connections between Chinese culture and John 1:1. (Source: Zetzsche)

Other translations include:

• Jamaican Patois: “when time started” (wen taim did staat); similarly the English translation by James A. Kleist (1954): when time began or Knox (1949): at the beginning of time
• Bariai: “prior to the coming forth of everything” (source: Bariai Back Translation)
• Hiligaynon: “When before still in the past” (source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
• Kölsch: “in the beginning of everything” (translation by Boch 2017)
• German: “primordial beginning” (Urbeginn) (translation by Fridolin Stier, 1989)
• English translation of the gospels of Sarah Ruden (2021, p. xlii): “inauguration” which “echoes similar connotations of a Hebrew word in Genesis”

Learn more on Bible Odyssey: In the beginning … or When God began…? (Word Study) .