{"id":556,"date":"2013-04-16T15:01:05","date_gmt":"2013-04-16T19:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/katie-moore\/?p=556"},"modified":"2013-04-16T15:01:05","modified_gmt":"2013-04-16T19:01:05","slug":"if-you-do-ill-give-you-candy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/katie-moore\/2013\/04\/16\/if-you-do-ill-give-you-candy\/","title":{"rendered":"If You Do, I’ll Give You Candy…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Part of speaking a language is understanding the culture of those with whom you want to communicate. Knowing how to conjugate every verb is handy, yes, but it doesn\u2019t ensure that people will track with what you want to say. Take the idea of persuading someone to do something, for example. In our culture we would use strong language, examples that hit close to home, and our strongest arguments.<\/p>\n

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Women are done visiting with each other when they can finally convince their kids to leave.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Not so with the Nahuatl. When native speakers of this language want to be convincing, they ask mild questions, repeat themselves, or tell outright lies. The following scenario plays itself out endlessly in our living room between moms and their children.<\/p>\n

Mom (to child): Should we go?<\/p>\n

Child: No, I\u2019m playing.<\/p>\n

Mom: Let\u2019s go. C\u2019mon. Let\u2019s go. Don\u2019t you want to go? (In a calm voice) It\u2019s time to go. We should go. C\u2019mon. C\u2019mon. Let\u2019s go now. (Quietly) Let\u2019s leave now. If you don\u2019t want to go I\u2019ll leave you here. Do you want to stay here?<\/p>\n

Child: No.<\/p>\n

Mom (still calm): Let\u2019s go. It\u2019s time to go. I\u2019m leaving. (Makes no move to leave.) Should we go? Huh? Let\u2019s go.<\/p>\n

After some culturally-appointed-but-not-understood-by-me amount of time, mom and child will leave our house. I have imagined the same scenario in my own childhood with my own parents, and, believe me, it plays out very differently.<\/p>\n

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My language helper, Andrea, often promises her kids candy if they will obey.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Or what about this example? I asked my language helper what she would say to me if she wanted me to walk to another village and I said I didn\u2019t want to. She told me that most people would probably just lie to me. They would tell me that they planned to pay me for going or that I needed to go because someone was really sick over there and needed my help. She said they would change the lie to fit the person. In other words, they would manipulate me based on my particular interests or concerns so that I would do what they wanted.<\/p>\n

Parents here frequently employ this same technique to get their children to obey. They might promise them candy or money, for example, to get them to go to school. When I asked if they really plan to give those things to their children, my language helper said, \u201cWell, maybe a little something. But they won\u2019t remember what you said. They\u2019re just little.\u201d<\/p>\n

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To get her kids to stay out of trouble, this mom often tells them, "A rat lives over there. Come back near me or he'll bite you."<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What will it look like for us to convince the Nahuatl that germs are making them sick? That they should learn how to read and write in their language? To come to the Bible teaching? That the word of God is true? What will it look like to translate Scriptures that are full of phrases like \u201cthou shalt not,\u201d \u201cdo this\u201d and \u201clive this way\u201d? How will we introduce them to a God who always means what he says and who demands obedience? How do we accomplish this without lying or manipulation? Will they even recognize that we are trying to be convincing?<\/p>\n

Paul once claimed that he tried to become \u201ceverything to everyone\u201d for the sake of the gospel. We also want to speak Nahuatl in a Nahuatl way<\/em> so that the Nahuatl will track with the message God has for them. Please pray for us as we endeavor to do so.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Part of speaking a language is understanding the culture of those with whom you want to communicate. Knowing how to conjugate every verb is handy, yes, but it doesn\u2019t ensure that people will track with what you want to say. Take the idea of persuading someone to do something, for example. In our culture we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":331,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6402],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-556","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-my-reflections","7":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/katie-moore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/katie-moore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/katie-moore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/katie-moore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/331"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/katie-moore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/katie-moore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/katie-moore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/katie-moore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/katie-moore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}