Depending on which syllables you stressed as you read that, I just wished you good afternoon, or beautiful Japanese.
That’s one of the important lessons that missionaries George and Ginny Olson are learning as they study the Tagalog language of the Philippines, in preparation for beginning ministry there.
“Our goal in language learning is more than just speaking, but it is in becoming identified with the people, as Christ identified Himself with us,” George wrote. “Therefore, we must be willing to learn to think like they do, and not dismiss the things they do because they are different.”
For instance, you cannot simply ask someone, “Do you know his name?” You need to ask, “Is his name your knowledge?” or Kilala mo ba ang pangalan niya?
One consonant – even one that we don’t even think of as a consonant or write in English – can make a big difference. Paki abok ang suka means “Please pass the vinegar.” But only if you add a glottal stop sound at the end of suka. Otherwise you just asked, “Please pass the …”
You know what? On second thought, you really don’t want to know what you just asked for.
Pugon and pagong look and sound very much the same, but you can bake things in the oven (pugon) but not in a turtle (pagong), as George discovered from the strange look on the face of the Filipino man who is helping him learn Tagalog.
The look he got was even stranger when he tried to practice his Tagalog by telling a story the other day.
George wanted to say that as he was going to get something to eat, the cats saw him and they were hungry too. He got himself and the cats some food, and “so I ate with the cats.”
But what came out was, “so I ate the cats.”
Now, it’s bad enough if your neighbors start keeping their pets far away from you, and politely decline your invitations for dinner. But it would be absolutely awful if your language mistakes kept them away from Jesus.
That’s why NTM missionaries take so long to learn not just how people speak, but how they think, in order to clearly communicate the Gospel to them, and help them become followers of Jesus. That takes time, time spent in remote tribal villages in the far corners of the world, places where they need a logistical team standing behind them and making their work possible.
And just as we stand behind them, you stand behind us. Thank you!
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