Category: Uncategorized

How well do you know English?

How well do you know English?

When I was at the orthography (alphabet) conference in Kenya last month, one of the presenters (thanks, Helen Eaton!) showed us the slide that you see in the picture above.  She asked us to take two minutes to note down whether these were written as one word, two words, or with a hyphen in English.  […]
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Why a written record is helpful

Why a written record is helpful

Lately, there has been a shift in missions, seen even among those involved in Bible translation, from having the written Word to having oral stories and/or an oral translation. It is often claimed that the people who currently don’t have alphabets or a written language are so used to telling stories that introducing literacy in […]
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Grammar

Grammar

Grammar. The mere thought of it has most of you running away in fright and the rest yearning to hear more. I have to admit that I never liked English grammar classes either. But it’s fascinating, even though a bit frustrating, to study grammar in another language.  That’s especially true if it’s a language that […]
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Joy-filled red-letter days!

Joy-filled red-letter days!

Have you ever taken a spelling test in which the teacher didn’t actually know the answers?  You had to spell words that your teacher herself didn’t know how to spell?  Here, when that happened at my house two weeks ago, no one seemed to mind.  In fact, we all loved the game, and it was […]
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Want to go to the circus?

Want to go to the circus?

“Are you free tonight?”“Yup.”“Want to go to the circus with me?”“The what?”“It’s called a ‘circus.’ It’s a type of show.”“Oh.” (sounding confused)“Anyway, go get yourself ready, and I’ll be by in a few minutes to pick you up to go somewhere.”“Ok.” That was my conversation the other evening with Minata*, my host sister from My […]
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Convenience

Convenience

Convenience is very different here in the city than it is in the US. Let me give you just one example . . . The last few days it’s been quite hot and I haven’t felt like cooking a hot meal in the evening. Instead, I decided to just have a salad, and so I […]
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Seeing someone out of their normal context – who are you?

Seeing someone out of their normal context – who are you?

I’m sure you’ve all been there – someone greets you as if they know, and they may look familiar but you can’t place them. Where do you know them from? Do you know them? And then it dawns on you, perhaps with a little help from them – you do know them, but it’s from […]
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Culture and Language Acquisition: Tone

Culture and Language Acquisition: Tone

(You may have to turn your sound up really high to hear these recordings. Sorry about that.) Did you know that in Thai, the language of Thailand, the “t” in “stop” and the “t” in “top” are two different letters and they hear them as completely different sounds? In each language, there are sounds that […]
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Opening doors!

Opening doors!

It was only a few days after I had gotten back to My Country; I hadn’t even been able to get my motorcycle back yet. But I wanted to go and greet my pastor, which is really important in the culture here.  I started out on foot, hoping to find a taxi along the way.  […]
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Culture and Language Acquisition: Theological questions

Culture and Language Acquisition: Theological questions

Sometimes the things I’m learning in My Language lead to good theological questions as I try to think about whether a certain term could be used in Bible translation or teaching.  Let me give you a few examples.  I’d love to hear your thoughts/insights on these theological questions! 1. Shepherds I learned two different words […]
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