My mother used to tell my brothers and I, “Watch your language”, whenever a word that
came out of our mouths that was not helpful or something said that would not build up others. She didn’t primarily use that phrase because of bad language, but because of unhelpful or damaging language we were using.
When we live and minister among another people group other than our own, we need to ‘watch over our language’. What I mean is we cannot accept a ‘global understanding’ of another’s language. We should not settle for just passable language acquisition.
The apostle Paul writes in the context of our teaching and disciping: “For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that powerfully works within me” (Colossians 1:29). We are to ‘work hard’ as an athlete does in all our efforts and work, including language acquisition.
When do not make this effort, we create a context where the Gospel message might be truncated; where our ‘language’ potentially ends up hindering the clear communication of the Gospel message in another cultural context.
Many of us have experienced a similar situation when we talk with someone from another culture who is trying to speak in our mother tongue. If that person’s language skills are just okay, we find ourselves struggling to understand the real content of their ‘message’. It feels like we are missing something, and we end up using reductionist language in order to continue the conversation.
Two principles should guide us as we seek to ‘communicate well’ with others.
First, remember that language acquisition is a lifelong project. I still remember learning the word for ‘apple core’ while running with my teammate, David. He saw an apple core on the ground, turned to me and said “Do you know the word for that in French?” I didn’t, but I learned it that day. And I had already been in France for over seven years.
Second, regularly ask others for help. If language acquisition is a lifelong project, then we should not slow down the learning process. When your teammate, your national co-worker, or another friend encourages you to speak more in the national language, your language ability and your capacity to share the good news will grow and deepen.
Filed under: Accountability, Communication, Language learning |
Thoughts Along The Journey 
This is an excellent reminder about the value of continued development in communicating the Gospel with clarity and simplicity. It is so easy to allow busyness crowd out ongoing language learning.
Language learning calls for feedback from others. That is where I think we get tripped up. After 1-2 years of study we start in ministry and are not able ourselves to critically assess our language level and further development. That is where we need others to regularly work with us so that we can speak and communicate with more clarity.