Culture is key to language learning. As missionaries observe the culture of the people they are learning the language that describes that culture. Learning proceeds from the very concrete issues like names for the parts of a house, plants, food to the issues regarding their explanation of where they came from, what they are doing here and where they are going.
In many tribal societies, animism is the predominant religion or worldview. Animism is the idea that our lives are controlled by spirits, the spirits of every living thing around them and even the spirits of departed ancestors. The key is to perform the necessary rituals to manipulate these spirits to do good or to refrain from doing evil.
Consultants assist the missionaries in their culture and language acquisition and help assess the missionaries’ proficiency and understanding. Once they have attained sufficient understanding of the culture and proficiency in the language, they are freed to prepare Bible lessons in order to teach.
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