The following is an exert from chapter 5 of the book Missionary Guidebook For Ladies by Mindy Bush
Ideas to Practice the Language
- Go to every service and activity that is held by the church you are attending while in language school. Go on retreats and camps, sing in the choir, serve in the nursery, go on visitation, or help the church secretary. Do everything you can to immerse yourself in the language!
- Carry a notebook around with you everywhere you go. Write down words you see in the market, on the street, in the grocery store, and on signs. In the church services, write down every word you understand in the message. Pretty soon you will find that you are understanding so much you can’t keep up with writing them all down. At this point, write down every word you don’t understand. The next day ask your teacher what these words mean.
- Invite a friend to go with you to the market or store and have them help you with the pronunciation and meanings of different things. The first question you should learn in any language should be, “What is this?”
- Watch the news in the native language. Usually the news anchors will speak with the best grammar. At first it may seem like gibberish because they speak so quickly, but after a while you will start picking out some words. Most people who successfully learn a language spend a good amount of time each day listening to the radio or watching the national news.
- Hang out at the park (especially if you have children) and listen to the children yelling things at each other. Listen to mothers giving instructions or commands to their children. Write them down!
- Read your Bible in the national language. At first it may take you an hour to get through one chapter. Look up each word in the dictionary so you are understanding it. Be careful to not let this substitute your daily walk with the Lord. If you aren’t understanding anything, you aren’t being spiritually filled. This also will be difficult in languages that do not use the Roman alphabet until you learn the characters that make up your alphabet.
- Read the Bible to anyone who will listen to you. Memorize Bible verses.
- Learn to cook the food in the country where you are living. Ask another woman to go with you to the market, buy everything you need to cook the national food, and prepare an entire meal from start to finish. Invite national friends for dinner and you have just spent a few hours “learning the language” and having fun, not to mention learning LOTS about culture!
- Use technology to learn the language, but don’t depend on it all the time! There are apps that can translate everything you want to say from English to the language you are learning. This can be detrimental to your language learning. There are apps that can allow you to order a pizza without speaking a word to anyone! Be careful to not rely so much on these methods!
- Memorize their national anthem and the songs that you will be singing in church, as well as Bible verses and the books of the Bible!
- Switch up the people you talk to and spend time with, even if you are comfortable with a specific person. After a while those who know you well will understand you whether you say it correctly or not, and you will think you are getting good in the language even though you’re not.
You will need to maintain a close relationship with the Lord during this time of your ministry! Learning a language is time consuming, mind-boggling, and stressful. Add this to the fact that you are also learning to deal with cultural issues and adjusting to being away from family and friends and everything familiar. YOU NEED THE WORD OF GOD EVERY SINGLE DAY! Make some adjustments in your schedule and have time with the Lord! I can’t stress this enough. You must be growing spiritually daily or you will be spiritually “on empty” every day!
Remember that this too shall pass! Language school will pass, but learning the language will never pass. You may be comfortable after a while in the language, but you will always be learning. Don’t wait until you feel that you are “fluent” because you may never get to that point! It’s a good goal, but your goal of being a missionary is not to become proficient in a language; it is to reach others for Christ.
The Most Common Language Learning Obstacles
- Pride – Everyone deals with this! You must revert to learning like a child for a while if you are going to learn! You must be willing to take correction.
- Shyness – It is hard for a quiet person to get out there and talk to people. Get over your shyness and make some friends. You will need to force yourself.
- Fear – Not willing to leave the kids for a few hours a day. Fear of saying the wrong word or speaking in public in another language.
- Segregation – Talking only with the other missionaries when you are at church or other gatherings. You can always get together with them another time! Not only does it look like all the “Americans” want to hang out together, but you will also be holding yourself back from learning the language.
- Unwillingness – It’s too hard to go back to “school” and learn something.
- Laziness – It’s too much effort.
- Technology – It is more tempting to turn on the TV or connect with friends and family back home rather than do your language school homework.
- Patriarchal cultures – In some middle eastern countries, it is hard to find women out and about. The men run the businesses and the women stay home with the children. You may need to hire a houseworker just so you can have someone to practice the language with!