Ask a Missionary - Catch The Fire

A:
Language learning may be easier than you
think.
To learn another language, our agency has new missionaries
go to Southeast Asia to live with a local family. After four months of
language study, some start leading simple Bible studies. Most don’t
study the language longer than twelve months. I acknowledge that
some languages are harder to learn than others. But it’s well worth
being able to communicate on the heart level in the local language.
Whether or not you achieve fluency, every effort toward learning the
language will put you ahead in relating to people.
Answer from Jim, who served twenty-five years in Asia with The Navigators.
Q:
What is the best way for me to
learn a language so I can witness?
A:
Go to language school and practice in the
culture.
The normal pattern for those of us working in other cultures is
to go through the hard slogging of learning another language. It’s a
lot of work and takes a lot of time, but it has significant benefits. As
we work through a language, we learn both intellectual suppositions
and cultural niceties of those with whom we desire to communicate
the gospel.
A language school addresses both the language and the culture
and usually provides a disciplined time frame—something most of
us need. Many of us feel it is false economy to rush too quickly into
ministry opportunities before receiving an ample grounding in the
TRAINING: Getting It Right | 105