8 years ago, the new pastor of a church in the UAE saw an item in Brigada about the first MICN (Missional International Church Network) conference that was in Indonesia. He’s attended this important conference every year since and it’s been a great help to the church. By the way, the MICN conference this year is in Hanoi, Vietnam, April 16-20, 2012. You can get further information and register at
Thanks to this pastor and church for being a strong partner to Brigada!
Concerning heart language… There are many teenagers who go through a language shift from the heart language of their parents. There are also many teenagers who grow up and 20 years later so long for their heart language, not their trade language. It’s however, a natural part of growing to be independent from our parents and making our own decisions to reject some of the things our parents hold dear. How many people have cried to me with regret because they rejected their mother language as a teen in rebellion. We need to look at the need for Bible translation mostly from what’s happening with the whole situation, not just from teenagers who are expressing their independence from their parents, because most teenagers tend to come back to many things that they reject for a time. Later in life they see their parents weren’t so dumb.
Jim Slack recently at a conference said that different parts of the brain show up on MRI when a heart language is spoke verses a trade language and that the areas may not be related so there may be less integration of teaching done in diffirent languages. This is important to integrated teaching in following Christ.
On another note I recently saw a PBS special about an Native American tribe in New York that is trying to regain their native tongue after it has been dead for years. They are using translations of the Bible done many years ago. Chomski said it was one of the first languages he knew of to be revived. Interestingly the lady who started the project had a dream in her native language although she did not understand it till later. Amazing how the Lord works!
A thorough investigation into the state of a language should always be done PRIOR to launching a Bible translation project or any other type of language development. This is important so that resources are not wasted on producing items which there is little interest to use. That’s why the goal of Wycliffe Bible Translators and its primary partner on the field SIL International is to see Bible translation begun in “every language that needs it” by the year 2025. In order to determine which languages “need” Bible translation, SIL Intl. conducts “language survey” using methods that have proven effective around the world to assess the present and future vitality of a language. Researchers gather information about actual usage of the language and likely trends in various domains of life across all demographic segments of the population, proficiency of its speakers in languages of wider communication, and their attitudes toward their own language and others which they are exposed to. In some parts of the world, indigenous people see no practical value in reading and writing their own language, but they still value it in spoken form and desire to have Scripture made available in audio.
As for MRI research on how/where the brain processes language, the difference between “heart” vs. “trade” language may have more to do with the age at which person acquires a particular language, but perhaps there is also an attitudinal/affective factor involved.
The researchers behind From Seed to Fruit: Global Trends, Fruitful Practices, and Emerging Issues Among Muslims, edited by J. Dudley Woodberry, evaluated the impact of about a hundred ministry variables on work with Muslims around the world. That research found that the use of local language, rather than regional language, was strongly correlated with starting multiple new groups and planting multiplying churches among people from a Muslim background.
The combination of (1) using the local language, (2) having at least one Christian worker who was fluent in the local language, and (3) implementing communication strategies (oral or literate) that matched the preferences of the intended audience was more predictive of success than any of the other factors they researched. Over 80% of the time that these three strategies were used, at least one church was planted; 41% of the time multiple churches were planted. In the absence of all three of these factors, however, more than 90% of the time Christian workers were unable to plant even one new church.
Hi,
Re. heart language or ‘home’ language.
Does this have radical implications for Bible translation? I am not sure they are so radical. It could make it more difficult for an outsider to learn the ‘heart/home’ language if it’s use is confined to the breakfast table. Still something to have a go at, however.
One could make many additional points. Let me make one: to understand people’s use of a trade or international language, one must really know the ‘heart’ language. Sometimes a trade language will be used only for certain ‘sides’ of life, as the heart language fills the gap for other issues, e.g. family issues. A trade language is typically understood as a translation of a heart language – many terms in the trade language will be used in such a way as to have an anticipated impact equivalent to some heart-language word, rather than what native-speakers of that language might think it ought to mean. In such a case; only knowledge of the heart language will inform the listener of the intended meaning of a use of a trade language.