Horizons magazine is published by Presbyterian Women (PW) the national women’s organization of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Issue link: http://horizons.epubxp.com/i/521232
their host country, where they begin their service with formal language s tudy. Ethiopia, for example, has an e xcellent language school in the capi- tal city, and mission co-workers com- monly spend six months or so in full-time learning from local teachers. For many local languages, though, there are no formal teachers available in the U.S., a third country (such as France) or the host country itself. In this situation, mission co-workers attend a two-week course in language acquisition. This course teaches basic strategies not only for learning a language, but also learning how to invite local people to become their t utors. The mission co-worker learns t he language and the local friend learns how to teach (another exam- ple of the mutually beneficial rela- tionships forged through mission!). Exceptions and Additions The requirement that a language be mastered has a few exceptions. A mis- sion co-worker may be serving some- where that English is a national language, such as Malawi. Teaching at a seminary, the mission co-worker shares complex theological and biblical ideas—insights best delivered for t eacher and students in the teacher's n ative language! Sometimes, a mission co-worker serves a wide variety of ethnic groups over a large region, such as in South Africa, where it would be impossible to learn the 60 different regional languages. And in some conflicted cases, such as Palestine, mission co- workers would not want to align themselves with one faction by learning either Hebrew or Arabic. But even for assignments where language fluency is not required, it is still desirable to be able to speak to local people. Mission co-workers must meet their daily needs of shopping, banking, transportation and informal conversations, as well as just having close friends. They will want to take part in meetings, read newspapers and magazines, and speak in public, including leading Bible studies and preaching. When accepting their assignments, mission co-workers also accept the challenge of reaching a flu- ency that allows them to witness effec- tively as part of the local family of God, called into being in a particular time and place. My Vanuatu Experiences When my wife Lora and I were called to serve as educators in Vanu- atu, a small island country in the South Pacific, we were astonished to learn that it is the most language- dense place on earth. For thousands of years, the local people had prac- ticed ritual warfare, so every island became a hereditary enemy of every other island. Historically, it was dan- gerous to talk to anyone outside one's home village, so languages frag- mented wildly. Today, there are roughly 110 dis- tinct languages spoken across the 83 How Do Yo Say . . . BY SHARON KANDEL Can you be too old to learn a language? This is the question my husband Lynn and I asked when we went to a language acquisition course before leaving for South Sudan. We were told no, but we're still not sure we believe it. In Juba, South Sudan, where we live, three different styles of Arabic are spoken. These three dialects are different enough that, at times, people don't understand each other. The good thing about this is that we can say things a little wrong and people don't know it! But, the number of languages does present a dilemma—which Arabic do we learn? We've actually been learning two of the versions simultaneously. To say the least, this gets confusing at times, especially since we're fluent in Swahili, which has many Arabic words. Happily, people are willing to be patient with us and are excited that we want to learn their language. This alone makes us feel that the process is worthwhile. While English is the official national language, we're committed to learning the local languages. Learning the local language is an important building block in understanding the people we live and work with. It helps us better understand the local culture and ways of doing things. We feel it also communicates to the people we work with that we really do care enough about them and their culture enough to learn their language. With God's grace and the patience of our hosts, we'll persevere through this daunting, yet rewarding task. Sharon Kandel is a PC(USA) mission co- worker serving as logistics facilitator for the South Sudan Education and Peacebuilding Project. 20