Tag Archives: language

God’s language (a bit of humor)

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The other day, in the comments section, I shared a story I once heard. I thought it was about my friend Juan Monroy, but he denies having said it.

The person in the story said:

I speak three languages: Spanish, French, and English.
When I want to talk to my machines, I speak English, the language of technology.
When I am being romantic with my wife, I speak French, the language of love.
But when I speak to God… I speak Spanish.

Maybe Spanish speakers find that funnier than English speakers do. Either way, I think it’s cute.

Do you speak Greek?

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I was reminded again yesterday as to how we often think of speaking a foreign language in binary terms. That is, you speak Greek or you don’t. You know Russian or you don’t.

It’s funny that we do that, because any of us who have taken a year or two of a foreign language knows that language ability is a sliding scale, not a yes/no question. It’s not whether or not I speak German, but how well. Being able to say “Nein” doesn’t qualify me as a German speaker.

Years ago, the singing group Acappella wanted to bring out an album in Spanish. They got someone who “knows Spanish” to translate their songs. Unfortunately, this person apparently didn’t know enough to admit that they didn’t know enough, and the translations are abysmal. At least two of the songs have serious mistakes in the title, one of them containing a word which doesn’t even exist in Spanish! It’s really unfortunate, because the singers themselves did an excellent job with the pronunciation.

I guess the learning of just about anything is that way. Is there a subject where you can say that you have learned it completely? In terms of language, there are still nuances of English that surprise me, aspects of the grammar that native speakers regularly get wrong.

I should draw some deep philosophical point at this time, but I really don’t have one. For me personally, these things remind me that I need to learn humility. And I need to have the wisdom to not present myself as an expert when I’m not one.

Any thoughts?

Why it’s all Greek to me

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[We’re discussing a couple of sayings this week. One is from a Facebook group:

“I SHOULD NOT HAVE TO PRESS 1 TO HEAR A MESSAGE IN ENGLISH… WE ARE IN AMERICA, LEARN THE LANGUAGE.”

The other is something I wrote in response:

“Everyone who complains about immigrants not knowing English should have to use Bibles printed in Greek, Aramaic and Hebrew.”]

In order to pretend not to be bigoted, some will claim to merely be looking out for the good of immigrants. It will be in their best interest to learn English. This is true, of course. Just as all of us would benefit from learning another language. We can hide behind the fact that English is the dominant language in the U.S., but the fact is, most people in the world speak multiple languages and it would benefit each of us to be multilingual.

The case can also be made that it would be of benefit to all Christians to learn biblical Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic. There is always something lost in translation, so being able to study the Bible in the original languages would be good for all of us.

We don’t take the time, nor go to the trouble to do so. One reason for that is the fact that we have the Bible available to us in our native tongue, so we don’t see the need to learn other languages. If depriving immigrants of language aids will help motivate them to learn English, maybe taking away our translations will do the same for us with the Bible.

What do you think?

Press 1 for Greek, 2 for Hebrew…

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So the other day I posted the following on Twitter: “Everyone who complains about immigrants not knowing English should have to use Bibles printed in Greek, Aramaic and Hebrew.” Then Paula H. made the tragic mistake of quoting me on Facebook, sparking a lively discussion about the topic. Well, I guess the liveliest part of the discussion happened when people tried to decipher that cryptic tweet.

So let me try and unpack it a bit. I’d hoped to get some insights into why people would complain about help being offered to those who don’t speak English as their first language. Unfortunately, nobody stepped up to the plate (at least not yet). I’m not surprised when non-Christians join such groups, but I can’t conceive of why Christians would do so.

My only guess is that it’s done out of a lack of understanding. Let me offer some basic points:

  1. Most immigrants would really like to know English. There are some who have no desire to learn, but that’s definitely a small minority. Therefore, well-meaning phrases like “Learn the language!” don’t do as much good as you think they might.
  2. Even those who have a fairly good command of English still need their native language for critical situations. Add to that the difficulty of holding a phone conversation in your second language (no visual cues) and the difficulty that we all have in navigating phone menus.
  3. It would be good for all Christians to have some proficiency in the original languages, but most people will never go to the trouble to do so. One reason they don’t learn those languages is the ready availability of translations.
  4. Some argue that if we didn’t offer translations to those who speak English as a second language, they would make more of an effort to learn. By that argument, we should do the same with our Bibles, taking away the “crutch” of translations to make people learn.

Of course, being able to read the Bible isn’t nearly as important as being able to talk to your insurance company. Right?

Everybody’s mad and I don’t know why

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I put something on Twitter last week in response to something I keep seeing on Facebook. (My, how modern of me! Next I’ll be sending e-mail) What I have seen too many times is friends of mine joining a group called “I SHOULD NOT HAVE TO PRESS 1 TO HEAR A MESSAGE IN ENGLISH… WE ARE IN AMERICA, LEARN THE LANGUAGE.”

There are quite a number of similar groups. So, before I get myself in trouble with a number of my friends, could somebody help me out… what is so terrible about having to press a button to choose your language? Why are so many people upset about this? I can definitely see being upset about voicemail systems; who doesn’t hate those?There are lots of aspects of that whole process that are highly annoying. Why focus on that one step?

What really gets to me is that most of these people who I know that are joining these groups are Christians. Can you figure out a reason why Christians would be joining in this?

Here’s your chance to clue in the clueless. What am I missing in all of this?