Should I Learn the Language
Do I really need to learn the language?

It is extremely vital for a missionary to be able to speak the language of the people. It's not as if to say there's nothing that somebody could do without being able to speak the language, but I believe there's a limit to what you can do without being able to speak the language — and speak it well, fluently.

There are a lot of varieties in terms of the ways you could learn a language. Some people — and I think this is true for just about anything — there are learning styles. Some people do best by going into a learning situation where they're in a school, in a classroom with other people learning together and a very concrete style, a classroom form of learning. Other people, I've found for me, I was much better to get out in the street and use what I knew.

And I would say regardless of which way you learn the language, it's very important to use what you know. Don't be embarrassed about making mistakes. Probably, if you're in a place where you look different, if you're not going to a European country, they're not expecting you to be able to understand the language anyway. So it's very important for you to recognize that, and get out there and make mistakes. Be willing to make mistakes. If you're not willing to make a mistake, you're not going to accomplish much. So it's very important, regardless of how you're learning, to get out there and use it.

But in my instance I found that I was better able to learn if I brought in a tutor to teach me, to do drills and grammar studies and things like that, and then get out there and use it in the street and get to know people, and connect with them that way. Come back and work on it more. And I did that — because Japanese is a difficult language — for a couple of years, and then continually learning after that as well. Learning, with a tutor, going out in the street. Other people are better to go into a classroom situation.

Some countries, you would have a classroom situation that is specifically designed for missionaries. Find out the options. Find out the options that are available in the country that you're going to, find the one that matches you.

The other consideration is that sometimes mission agencies or the teams that you'll be working with will be saying, here is your single option. And you need to take that into consideration that, OK, they have a plan, I'm a part of the team, I'm going to be a team player, and I'll join in with what it is that they're doing. But you can still find ways even within that, as I've said, in a classroom setting, to get out and use it. To make sure that you're varying the learning styles to find the one that suits you best.


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Produced by Mission Data International
Video Editor: Paul Nielsen
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