Learning the language
Not all it's cracked up to be?
Session four of 'Facing the Challenge' talks about our need to become
cross-cultural 'missionaries' to our own people, especially young people.
Part of this is that we need to 'learn the language.'
One participant in the course recently critiqued this suggestion: he
said that when we were teenagers, we had our own 'language' which we
used with each other. If an adult tried to 'learn the language', we
quickly changed our way of talking so that they could not understand
us.
In that sense,
if we try to use the language of youth culture, we shall be seen
as patronizing.
He was absolutely
right to make this point, and the recommendation about 'learning the
language' in session four should not be taken in a superficial way to
mean that we ought to learn, or use, teen slang.
Rather, we need to 'learn the language' in a more profound sense of
understanding the patterns of people's thoughts, and how those thoughts
are reflected in their patterns of speech. Here is how Eddie
Arthur, of SIL International, describes the issue:
Words
change their meaning. The phrase 'big brother' used to refer to
an elder male sibling, then to a symbol of totalitarian oppression,
now it's a popular TV show. Even when the meaning of a word or
phrase is clear, it can conjure up very different images in people's
minds. If I were to say the words 'violence on the streets,' some
people would think about marchers hurling bottles and bricks and
others about riot police beating protestors. Language and communication
are not as simple as we like to think them. We can think we are
saying on thing, but people may well be hearing something very
different.
As
Christians, we are used to the idea that certain people, missionaries
and others, need to learn new languages in order to communicate
the Christian Gospel. However, it is my conviction that the changes
in language and culture that are happening in the western world
mean that Christians in general need to become language learners
if they are to adequately explain their faith to those around
them. Take a simple phrase; 'you are saved by grace'. In today's
world, this means that we are saved by a person called Grace -
it can't mean anything else.
As
language and culture change, western Christians, like overseas
missionaries need to be language and culture learners so that
they can find new ways to communicate the unchanging truth of
Christ's message.
Eddie is a European
Training Director for SIL International. He lived and worked in a cross
cultural situation in Africa for twelve years and is a language learning
consultant.
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