KEYWORDS: language, people, own language

Learn the Language

David Berg

DO 20336/85—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. I presume Maria was there with me, although unless the person serves some capacity, sometimes such details are not very distinct in dreams.

2. WE WERE SITTING ON A BENCH OF THIS CHURCH, a very nice little church that maybe held one or two hundred people, not much bigger than the one I built. But oddly enough, instead of seats or pews or chairs‚ it just had plain simple benches without backs. They were very pretty polished wooden benches, but they were just benches‚ backless benches! I thought nothing of it since there are churches like that, especially in poorer communities where they save money by not buying fancy cushioned pews. Of course, if they do that, I don't know where they put the songbooks, because you usually put your songbook in a holder on the back of the seat in front of you!

3. IT WASN'T THAT THESE PEOPLE WERE SO POOR, IN FACT THEY LOOKED VERY WELL OFF, it just seemed that they wanted to save money by not spending the money on anything unnecessary. I guess the preacher didn't preach as long as I do so they didn't get tired just sitting there on a bench. But he was preaching, & I was thinking about what a nice message it was & how good it was!

4. IT HELPS ME TO BE IN THE SAME PLACE & VIRTUALLY THE SAME POSITION & also to close my eyes when I'm relating a dream that I've had in bed. Of course‚ nearly all of my dreams are in bed because I don't usually sleep anyplace else!

5. SO I WAS THINKING WHAT A NICE LITTLE CHURCH IT WAS & WHAT NICE PEOPLE THEY WERE & what good they were doing preaching the Gospel! I think he was preaching in Japanese, but somehow I knew he was a good man & preaching a good Gospel & that they were good people. It seemed like it was not in Japan itself, but in some other country where there was a large Japanese community where they liked to go to their own church & hear preaching & a service in their own language, of which there are quite a few in various places.

6. SO WHEN THE CHURCH SERVICE WAS OVER, ALL THE PEOPLE FILED TOWARD THE BACK AS THEY USUALLY DO‚ TO PASS OUT THE DOOR. The preacher was standing somewhere near the back, not right by the door, but 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 usually do in most churches. As they file out they shake the preacher's hand & thank him for the message & he says some word of greeting or concern to them. I had something in my hand that I wanted to talk to him about, so I was waiting for them all to finish talking to him & shaking hands so that I wouldn't interrupt his farewells.

7. WHILE I WAS STANDING THERE WAITING BY A WINDOW, A FUNNY THING HAPPENED! There are certain things in dreams that you just can't seem to explain, but they do have some meaning if it's a clear dream like this. That's why I'm relating it‚ because it was so clear when I woke up, still vivid in my mind, & when that happens it's usually from the Lord & has some message or meaning.

8. SO I LOOKED UP & THERE WAS A WINDOW CURTAIN HANGING DOWN, a decorative ornamental curtain of some kind like they do have sometimes in churches, which you can pull to darken the auditorium for pictures during daylight hours or something like that. And oddly enough, the corner of the curtain was hanging down in the shape of a hand, sort of like a hand hanging down. And I had a funny feeling! I thought, "Well, I can't shake hands with the preacher right now‚ he's busy, but I can shake hands with this hand hanging down from above!"

9. THE FIRST THING THAT CAME TO ME as I considered the dream afterwards was that it meant, "You're shaking hands with Someone more important Up Above than even this preacher! They're all lining up to shake hands with him, while you're over here shaking hands alone with the Lord!"

10. ANYHOW, 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 about the size of a "Life" Magazine with paperback covers, but quite thick. It was about the size of a moderately thick telephone book, maybe about an inch thick, the usual size telephone book they have in big cities, with limp paperback covers & fairly heavy. But it had a title on it in Japanese & the book was in Japanese.

11. 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 a good translation. Is this the best Japanese 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. And although this is the evening & I failed to record it this morning as I should have‚ I can still remember the scene very clearly.

12. 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!" I thought about it afterwards, that the only Japanese most folks know is "sayonara", which is kind of a loving greeting or a farewell. That's about the only Japanese most Americans ever learn, & I think I first heard that from a movie called "The Teahouse of the August Moon", a funny comedy about some GIs in Japan after the war. They were members of the occupying armed forces, & in their spare time—which sometimes soldiers have a lot of—they decided they'd go into business & set up this teahouse, & it was called the Teahouse of the August Moon. It was a very funny movie with Glenn Ford & Marlon Brando. That word was also used in the movie "My Geisha", in which Shirley MacLaine played the part of a Japanese Geisha girl. It's a greeting or a farewell, & those, of course, are some of the first words you learn in almost any language, to say "hello" & "goodbye".

13. SO I SAID, "I'M SORRY, BUT I KNOW VERY LITTLE JAPANESE!" I couldn't talk to him in Japanese. But he smiled‚ he was nice about it, & then I offered him this book. I said, "I wish you'd tell me if this is a good Japanese translation of the Bible."—And I think he took it & opened it & started looking through it, & that's the last I remember.

14. 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.

15. 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 know any Japanese or you can read any Japanese.

16. SO IT WOULD BE GOOD PRACTICE FOR YOUR READING SKILL‚ AS IT IS WITH ANY FOREIGN LANGUAGE, TO READ SOME BOOKS OR MATERIALS. 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.

17. 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. I learned a little of some other languages such as Spanish, & mostly the ancient classical languages which aren't even spoken any more, such as Latin & Greek & Hebrew. Of course, the Jews have now revived Hebrew. But Latin, Greek & Hebrew aren't very useful to you on the mission field in the Orient, speaking languages such as Japanese or Chinese, which are not based on any one of the three, nor Spanish.

18. 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 their language & try to speak to them in their own language‚ as we did in Spain & Latin America.

19. THE PEOPLE ALWAYS APPRECIATED IT A GREAT DEAL & SOMETIMES WERE EVEN QUITE SURPRISED that we so-called "Whites"—or "gringos" as we were called in Mexico & Cuba & places like that—had actually taken the trouble to learn their language & could speak it to them & 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.

20. 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!

21. IN NEARLY ALL OF MY TALKS & HOURS OF WITNESSING IN TENERIFE, sometimes with tables full of people, I spoke almost entirely in Spanish.—Unless there were people there who also understood English. And it was amazing the help the Lord gave me to be able to speak that language, which was not my native nor mother tongue, & I'd never had more than one term of Spanish in high school! But I had a very good teacher, a real Spanish-American Mexican lady who was the poet laureate of California! She spoke real good Castilian Spanish. It was of course her native tongue so she spoke it very well.

22. AND I LISTENED TO YEARS OF SPANISH & SPANISH MUSIC THAT I LOVED VERY MUCH ON MY LITTLE RADIOS WHEN I WAS YOUNG. I think I got used to the sound of the language that way & the rhythm of the language, every language has its own sound & rhythm, & I learned to love it just from hearing it, because it's such a beautiful, liquid language.

23. I'VE LEARNED THAT OTHER LANGUAGES CAN ALSO BE BEAUTIFUL & MUSICAL.—In fact, Chinese is almost sung, it's a bit sing–songy & beautiful, especially when it's spoken well & distinctly & clearly by those who really know it.

24. SO IT CERTAINLY PAYS & IT SHOWS A GENUINE INTEREST, A GENUINE CONCERN & EVEN LOVE FOR PEOPLE! It shows that you have taken enough interest in them to take time out to try to learn at least a little of their language, in order to carry on a conversation with them in their own language in which they are at ease.

25. MY TROUBLE WAS NEVER REALLY IN SPEAKING SPANISH, because I spoke only what I knew & very simply & without much knowledge of conjugations or the idioms & whatnot of Spanish. I spoke like a child, but at least they understood me. The problem I had was in understanding Spanish when they rattled it off to me so fast that I couldn't keep up with them!—Because they knew it, of course‚ so well, being their native tongue. But that's when dear Maria came in & did me a lot of good‚ because she'd had two years of Spanish!

26. WELL, I THINK MARIA REALLY HAS THE GIFT OF INTERPRETATION‚ because when she'd see I wasn't getting what they were saying‚ she would attempt to translate or interpret it for me, & that way we got by very well because she usually got it when I didn't if they spoke too fast. She knew a lot more Spanish than I did & had a much larger vocabulary & understood more about the grammatical forms & idioms etc., so we did real real well. Virtually all of our friends were Spanish. A few of the more educated ones spoke some English & we, of course‚ got by then very well, we just had to speak slowly for them & make sure they understood us.

27. 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 learn a language & be able to speak in the language of the people to the people of the country which you are visiting or in which you are residing, working & especially ministering. 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.

28. THERE IS ONE THING YOU'D BETTER LEARN REAL FAST, & THAT'S HOW TO COUNT IN THAT LANGUAGE. When I took anybody to Mexico or Cuba & eventually to Spain, the first thing I did was teach them how to count before I taught them anything else, especially if they were going shopping, ha! They had to be able to count at least up to a hundred before I was satisfied with them. And the next thing I taught them to do was to learn the pronunciation of the words so that they could read the Spanish & read the words & pronounce them correctly even if they didn't understand them or know what they meant.

29. I USED TO CLAIM I COULD TEACH YOU TO READ SPANISH IN ABOUT ONE HOUR! Spanish pronunciation rules are so consistent & so simple & so beautiful & the language is so easy to learn & the pronunciation of the various letters of the alphabet, consonants & vowels etc. are usually so consistent that it is a very simple language to learn as far as pronunciation is concerned. Once you've got the hang of pronunciation, you can look up in the English/Spanish section of your little dictionary the Spanish equivalent of the English word that you want to use to ask for something or tell somebody something, & there is the Spanish equivalent. If you know how to pronounce it, you can then tell them the word. So it is very helpful to at least learn the pronunciation of a language.

30. OF COURSE‚ IT IS MUCH SIMPLER TO LEARN SPANISH, WHICH IS A ROMANCE LANGUAGE & USES THE KNOWN ROMAN ALPHABET. It is much easier to learn the pronunciation of a language which is in the same alphabet or written in the same characters as your own language, as are most European & American languages. But the Oriental languages are something else since they use entirely different characters, such as I learned when I studied Hebrew, when I had to learn a whole new alphabet! But it came very rapidly & I soon learned the pronunciation equivalent of those Hebrew characters. It was a little hard to learn how to make them at first, but it's just like a little child learns English & learns the English alphabet, or any other language.

31. 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., the child soon learns that that's the name of that object. And when taught to do or not do certain things‚ the child soon learns that that's the word for that action etc., when taught to describe different things with different words, he soon learns that those are the words describing the object or the action, such as adjectives & adverbs etc.

32. THE CHILD DOESN'T KNOW THOSE GRAMMATICAL TERMS, HE 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 on the subject or whatever!

33. 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! If I could learn Hebrew characters, you ought to be able to learn that! Of course, there are many more characters in Japanese & Chinese than there are in Hebrew.—In fact, there are two or three fewer letters in the Hebrew alphabet than there are in the English alphabet, unlike Oriental languages!

34. NEVERTHELESS, 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. Then, if you can get that far, you might be able to learn how to describe present, past & future tense, which is something I never could get quite straight! At least I studied a little bit‚ but it seemed like every time I started to speak Spanish I always forgot the various tenses & I did all my Spanish speaking in present tense. This of course made my Spanish quite simple, but it made it a little difficult for me to talk about the past or the future!—And of all people, we should be able to talk about the Future & be able to use future tenses!

35. 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. If you are a minister or a missionary or a worker or even a visitor in the land, such as China or Japan or India or one of the Eastern countries‚ even though the more educated of that country may speak your language & therefore you can communicate fairly easily with them, 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 in their language.

36. 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! So by all means try to learn the language of the people with whom you're associating or visiting or working or ministering or loving or whatever you're doing. Try to learn a little of their language to show that you have at least tried to communicate with them in their own tongue & that you are courteous & respect them & are interested in them, concerned about them, you love them & you're trying to talk to them in their own language. They always appreciate it. I've always found that it brought smiles, immediate response, good reaction & instant cooperation!

37. I USED TO SEE THE DIFFERENCE ESPECIALLY IN THE WAITERS. We'd come in as foreigners, obviously not Spanish or Latin American‚ & would sit down in their restaurant, & they'd come up looking at us a little suspiciously & uneasily, sometimes almost with hostility!—Because most Americans have a very ugly reputation for being overbearing, aggressive‚ rude, impolite‚ discourteous, rough, tough, loud & everything that's unpleasant! They like to push little people around like waiters & bellboys & clerks & yell at them—yell at'm louder & louder in English or American just because they don't seem to understand! The Americans seem to think everybody ought to know their language & everybody ought to speak it, & "You dumb foreigner, how come you can't speak my language?" Well, they look at you & they're thinking to themselves that you're a pretty dumb foreigner yourself that you haven't learned a bit of theirs!

38. SO THE ATTITUDE OF WAITERS COMING UP TO WAIT ON US SOMETIMES WAS A LITTLE EDGY & TENSE. 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 showed enough concern‚ love, respect, courtesy & interest to have tried to learn even a little of their language & speak to them in their own language, making it a little easier for them, even though sacrificially harder for us.

39. 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.

40. SO TRY TO LEARN A LITTLE OF THE LANGUAGE OF THE COUNTRY THAT YOU'RE IN. I think I've talked about this before, but the Lord must know it needs to be talked about again or He wouldn't have given me that dream.

41. SO IF THAT DREAM DIDN'T DO ANYTHING ELSE, IT INSPIRED THIS LITTLE TALK ABOUT "LEARN THE LANGUAGE!" PTL! So God bless you & help you to learn the language as best you can‚ & even if you know it very poorly & speak it very poorly, they'll love you all the more & be all the more helpful to try to help you to speak it & to get what you want & do for you what you are asking. They'll be much more cooperative & much more helpful & much happier that you took the trouble & made the sacrifice to take time to try to learn their language & try to speak it to them, even if ever-so-poorly.

42. 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 be against them or 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.

43. THINK OF YOUR OWN REACTION TO OTHERS WHEN YOU'RE IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY & THEY STRUGGLE ALONG & TRY TO SPEAK IN YOUR LANGUAGE. It certainly is helpful & a relief & you really appreciate their trying, at least, to speak in your language & trying to make it easier for you. That's really what you're doing.—In trying to speak to them in their language you're trying to make it easier for them‚ even though it's harder for you, & they appreciate that.—Really, it's a sign of love! I consider it a real sign of love‚ concern, courtesy & appreciation to at least try to speak their language.

44. SO DO YOUR BEST & GET DOWN TO BUSINESS NOW! If you have someone in your Home who speaks it or can speak even a little of it, a little is better than none at all! Have them try to teach you the pronunciation & what common words & greetings & farewells to use etc. It will be a great help to you when you go out witnessing or on business or to shop or just to find your way around, whatever. It would be a tremendous help if you know a little bit of the language, even just a minimum of vocabulary, a few words that will help you get by‚ & they always appreciate it if you do.

45. MANY PEOPLE HAVE LIVED IN A COUNTRY & HAVE LEARNED TO SPEAK IT JUST FROM NORMAL CONTACT & COMMUNICATION WITH THE PEOPLE. There are many people who have learned to speak the language that way, just like a little child does. A little child learns to speak it easily, readily, very rapidly, but it usually takes him years to learn to read it, & even more to learn to write it. That's true of almost every language, & most of our people don't necessarily need to learn to read it & write it. You might need to write a note to somebody or something, but thank God, we've usually got converts or the Nationals themselves who can speak it & read it & write it & do it for us! So it is much easier to learn any language just by learning to speak it from the people, through contact & communication with them, living with them, to learn to speak it right from them‚ just like a child learns a language from scratch from its mother or its family.—And a child learns a considerable amount of its native tongue in only two years!

46. BUT JUST THINK, EVEN OUR CHILDREN WHO ARE VERY PRECOCIOUS & VERY MUCH AHEAD & EXTREMELY ADVANCED, it's not until they are five & six & seven years old that they can read it fluently. Techi learned to read very early‚ & even though she is brilliant, it's taken about three years for her to learn to read quite fluently & even with expression. She still hasn't learned to write easily & readily.

47. SO IT IS ALWAYS EASIER TO LEARN TO SPEAK A LANGUAGE, like the little child that learns the language in two years from nothing, from scratch, just to speak it, to communicate orally & vocally. But learning to read a language & write it is another big job, & in most of our type of work we don't actually need to learn to read the language or to write it, but only to speak it & communicate in witnessing & to talk to people & be able to understand them when they talk to us. That's usually the easiest form of learning a language, the spoken language.

48. 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. If you learn from someone who really speaks good Japanese or Chinese or whatever it is‚ it's fairly easy to learn the spoken language & to converse & to talk & to understand. But because of their characters & 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 & litnessing to them.

49. BUT IT WOULD CERTAINLY BE HELPFUL TO YOU IF YOU LEARN TO SPEAK A LITTLE AT LEAST! Learning to read or write it would take some real study & long years of training. It's even hard for the Chinese & Japanese to learn to read & write their own language fluently, & usually is only for the intellectuals & real students or businessmen etc. The common people speak very simple forms of those difficult languages & frequently can't even read them themselves, much less write them, because many of them are quite simple & haven't had that much schooling or taken that much time to learn.

50. BUT MORE & MORE OF THE ORIENTALS ARE LEARNING TO READ & WRITE & ARE BECOMING MORE LITERATE. That's what's known as literacy, being able to read & write a language. Nearly everybody knows how to speak their own language, they learn that at their mother or father's knee & in their family. That's something that's an absolute necessity of life, to learn to speak & understand your own language‚ or some language. But it is much easier to do that & learn that than it is to later have to learn how to read it & write it.

51. THE LITERACY IS THE PROBLEM & there are millions of illiterate people in the World who can speak their own language fluently but don't know anything about reading or writing it. Thank God most of the people in the Orient are fairly literate & fairly learned when it comes to their own language, & many can read & write it, as well as speak it.

52. 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 & will help you with it & help you in many other ways as well, 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?