LEARN THE LANGUAGE!               DO 2033                  6/85
--The Japanese Church Dream!

         1. MY IMPRESSION WAS THAT IT WASN'T EVEN IN JAPAN, but that it was some place like Los Angeles where there was a Japanese Christian church. We were sitting on a bench of this very nice little church. But oddly enough, instead of seats or pews or chairs, it just had very plain simple pretty polished wooden benches without backs.
         2. I WAS THINKING WHAT A NICE LITTLE CHURCH IT WAS & WHAT NICE PEOPLE THEY WERE. I think the preacher was preaching in Japanese, but somehow I knew he was a good man & preaching a good Gospel & that they were good people.
         3. SO WHEN THE CHURCH SERVICE WAS OVER, ALL THE PEOPLE FILED TOWARD THE BACK TO PASS OUT THE DOOR. The preacher was standing somewhere near the rear corner of the auditorium, & the people were bunching up & passing by him one by one to greet him & shake his hand. As they filed out they shook the preacher's hand & thanked him for the message & he said some words of greeting or concern to them.
         4. WHEN ALL THE PEOPLE FINALLY GOT THROUGH & WERE GONE, THE PREACHER TURNED TO GREET ME, as I seemed to be a visitor, & asked me what I was waiting to talk to him about. I had this book in my hand.
         5. SO I SAID, "I'M THINKING ABOUT STUDYING JAPANESE & I THOUGHT A GOOD WAY TO PRACTICE WOULD BE TO READ THE BIBLE IN JAPANESE. I just wanted to ask you if you think this is the best translation that I have here in this large paperback Japanese edition?" So I handed it to him & he apparently took it, because that's the last I can remember. That was all there was to it!--But it was quite real, very vivid & very clear.
         6. OH YES! AS I GREETED HIM, HE SAW THAT I WASN'T JAPANESE SO HE SPOKE TO ME IN ENGLISH, & I kind of laughed embarrassedly & apologised. I said, "I'm sorry, but I only know a little Japanese!"
         7. SO JUST EXACTLY WHAT THAT MEANS I DON'T REALLY KNOW, EXCEPT THAT MAYBE IT'S A WARNING to some of our Family in Japan, & certainly if you're planning on going there, that you ought to spend a little time trying to learn some Japanese, & even to be able to read some Bible Verses in Japanese, because there are many Japanese who speak little or no English.
         8. IT WAS SORT OF A SUGGESTION TO ME, IN A WAY, THAT IF I WANTED TO BECOME FAMILIAR WITH JAPANESE, A GOOD WAY TO PRACTICE READING IT WOULD BE TO READ THE BIBLE, which is usually very simple with very simple statements & small words. Most of the New Testament, the Gospels at least, consist of just little one or two-syllable words & very simple easy-to-read statements, little stories, & it should be easy to read them in Japanese as well, if you can read any Japanese. And of course the most important Book to us is the Bible, so the best, most useful tool for us who are witnesses & soul-winners & missionaries would be to learn to read the Bible in the language of the people to whom we're trying to witness.
         9. I KNOW I FELT A LITTLE SHAME & EMBARRASSMENT TO THINK THAT I KNEW LITTLE OR NOTHING ABOUT ONE OF THE MOST PROMINENT LANGUAGES of one of the most important peoples & one of the greatest countries in the whole World! I was ashamed that I knew so little about them & their culture & their language & that I had not really ever taken the time to study it.
         10. SO IT'S CERTAINLY A GOOD IDEA FOR YOU TO FAMILIARISE YOURSELF WITH THE LANGUAGE OF THE PEOPLE TO WHOM YOU ARE GOING TO WITNESS, to show interest in them & concern for them & respect for them, genuine love for them, to show that you're concerned enough to try to learn to speak to them in their own language, as we did in Spain & Latin America.
         11. THE PEOPLE ALWAYS APPRECIATED IT A GREAT DEAL & SOMETIMES WERE EVEN QUITE SURPRISED that we so-called "Whites"--or "gringos" had actually taken the trouble to learn their language & could carry on a simple conversation with them & order our food from the menus in their language & talk to them in their language, as well as finally witness to them in their language.
         12. MY SIMPLE CHILDISH SPANISH IMMEDIATELY SEEMED TO BRING SMILES & OPEN HEARTS & SOMETIMES EVEN LAUGHS! But they liked it. They see that you're taking a genuine interest in them & their culture by attempting to learn their language, even if you don't speak it very well, or you speak it very simply as I did.--But we got by!
         13. SO IT PAYS TO KNOW A LANGUAGE, & YOU'RE WORTH AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU KNOW LANGUAGES, maybe even more, because you can not only speak it yourself, but you can help others to speak it or communicate & to interpret & translate. It's a very valuable skill to be able to speak in the language of the people. So be ashamed if you don't know the language of the country you're in! Be embarrassed!--You should be if you haven't attempted to learn even a few basic greetings & skills in that language.
         14. THERE IS ONE THING YOU'D BETTER LEARN REAL FAST, & THAT'S HOW TO COUNT IN THAT LANGUAGE, especially if you are going shopping, ha! And the next thing is to learn the pronunciation of the words so that you can read the words & pronounce them correctly even if you don't understand them or know what they mean.
         15. IT'S AMAZING HOW CHILDREN CAN USUALLY LEARN TO SPEAK A LANGUAGE FAIRLY WELL IN ABOUT TWO YEARS, to express all their various feelings & needs & wants & convey their ideas in a simple vocabulary, not having learned it from books or study!--Just having learned it from hearing it & from being taught to say the word when pointing to different objects etc.
         16. THE CHILD DOESN'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT CONJUGATION! He doesn't know anything about the grammar etc. & he may not yet know how to read or write, but in a very short time, just by listening & getting the relationship between the words & objects or people or actions etc., he soon learns the language without even studying it or reading books!
         17. SO YOU CAN PICK UP A LANGUAGE QUITE RAPIDLY IF YOU LIVE WITH THE PEOPLE, & if you, being an adult & supposedly knowing how to read, get yourself a simple beginner's book of phrases & a dictionary accompanied by a tape, whether for Japanese or Chinese!
         18. YOU SHOULD MAKE SOME EFFORT TO TRY TO LEARN THE LANGUAGE OF THE COUNTRIES YOU'RE VISITING or the people you are ministering to & living with, & the best way to learn it, of course, is from them, to hear them speak it & have them help you pronounce it. Then on your own you could listen to a good taped course & study the vocabulary, learning as many words as you can for different things & actions.
         19. ANYHOW, YOU CERTAINLY OUGHT TO TRY TO LEARN AT LEAST A SIMPLE AMOUNT OF THE LANGUAGE OF THE PEOPLE WITH WHOM YOU'RE LIVING & WORKING & MINISTERING & enjoying the hospitality of their land. You surely ought to show them the respect & the courtesy of attempting to speak in their own language & not to always expect them to speak in yours. You should attempt to learn at least a minimum of their language to be able to give common greetings, salutations, farewells, ask questions about their health, say a few simple things or express your simple needs.
         20. TO SAY THE LEAST, IT SHOWS A GENUINE COURTESY TO THEM TO TRY TO SPEAK THEIR LANGUAGE, as well as a concern for them, even love for them, & certainly an interest in them! Try to show that you have at least tried to communicate with them in their own tongue. They always appreciate it. I've always found that it brought smiles, immediate response, good reaction & instant cooperation!
         21. I USED TO SEE THE DIFFERENCE ESPECIALLY IN THE WAITERS. We'd come in as obvious foreigners, & would sit down in their restaurant, & they'd come up looking at us a little suspiciously & uneasily, sometimes almost with hostility! They didn't look all too happy about having to wait on us when they first came to the table, but the minute we greeted them in Spanish & said, "How are you?" & acted friendly & talked a little in Spanish, instantly their whole attitude would change! They'd break into smiles & would be so happy & cooperative & would do their best to try to help us with their own language, & help us with our order & do everything they could to please!--Just because it had pleased them that we had tried to learn even a little of their language, making it a little easier for them, even though sacrificially harder for us.
         22. THEY APPRECIATED THE EFFORT & THE SACRIFICE WE WERE MAKING in trying to speak to them in their language, which they could see was difficult for us; whereas speaking in our own language would have been easy for us but hard for them. But when you speak in their language, even though your knowledge of it may be very simple & your pronunciation horrible, at least you're trying, & this always makes them very helpful & cooperative & they really try to help you.
         23. YOU'LL FIND OUT IT REALLY DOES WONDERS & IT'S ALMOST LIKE MAGIC THE WAY IT CHANGES ATTITUDES ALMOST INSTANTLY!--With clerks & waiters & people you're dealing with, or people you're witnessing to. It gives them a much better attitude towards you because they know you must not be antagonistic. You must not dislike them or you wouldn't have taken the trouble to learn their language. That's the way they seem to usually feel. I know we certainly are relieved & appreciate it when people who are foreigners to us will struggle & try to speak in our language.
         24. MANY PEOPLE HAVE LIVED IN A COUNTRY & HAVE LEARNED TO SPEAK THE LANGUAGE JUST FROM NORMAL CONTACT & COMMUNICATION WITH THE PEOPLE, just like a little child does. That's true of almost every language, & most of our people don't necessarily need to learn to read it & write it.
         25. WITH ORIENTAL LANGUAGES LIKE JAPANESE & CHINESE, IT'S ONE THING TO LEARN TO PICK THEM UP & SPEAK THEM FAIRLY WELL, which is not all that difficult if you live with them & try to learn & are taught by someone who knows it & can speak it & accent it properly & speak it well. But because of their huge alphabets, something like 5,000 different characters in Chinese & 7,000 in Japanese, they are very difficult languages to learn to read, much less write!--Which skills are not usually necessary in our type of work of witnessing & merely talking to people.
         26. ANYHOW, IF YOU TRY TO LEARN THEIR LANGUAGE, AT LEAST TO SPEAK & UNDERSTAND THE SPOKEN WORD A LITTLE, they'll certainly try to be very helpful to you, since they found that you love them enough to try to learn their own language. So try! Try to learn the language & you'll find it very helpful in your work for the Lord. PTL! God bless you & keep you learning the language so you can be a better tool & a better witness for Jesus!--In Jesus' name, amen! TTL! GBY & help you learn the language!--Amen?