Language Without Culture is Dead
Did you know that In certain Pacific cultures, a pilot is to be treated with higher respect and honor than a surgeon? To treat a doctor as you would a pilot doesn’t show the doctor that you value him. Instead it makes him feel insulted and uncomfortable.
Did you know that in many African cultures, to do housework yourself instead of hiring a maid brands you a stingy American, unwilling to support the people in your community? To hire someone to do work you’re capable of doing yourself doesn’t show laziness but generosity.
Did you know that in some Hispanic cultures, if you need to borrow something from a neighbor you must first spend upwards to an hour talking pleasantries and then ask for what you need? To come over and ask for something without taking up a lot of your friend’s time is considered rude.
Did you know that in several Asian cultures, when you present a gift to a friend, you’re supposed to first talk about what an amazing gift you got them, how you spent lots of money and time picking out the gift? To do so communicates the high esteem in which you hold your friend. By contrast, to downplay the gift and say “oh, I didn’t have a lot of time to pick out a gift; it’s just a little something” communicates how little value you place on your friend.
We place a high value on partnered missionaries learning language in the context of native culture because language is only half the battle when it comes to communicating believably and clearly. The other half is behavior.
Missionaries can unwittingly create barriers to the gospel by thinking language is the only tool we need. If our words don’t line up with our actions because they’re culturally inappropriate, we can be seen as untrustworthy or two-faced.