The Language Barrier - the Ga-dang (and peanut coffee)

12/1/2011

It was time for role-play. This was our communication task. Having arrived the day before by helicopter, now we had 2 Ga-dang native speakers, both of whom were also pretty good in Tagalog (at least enough to communicate what we wanted to do). At first we had the missionary pretend he was visiting one of the Ga-dang men in his home, and then properly excuse himself to go home and help his wife. The idea is that we are looking to see how well the missionary speaks and acts according to the customs of the native people he is working with. They played the role just fine. (click on any picture below to enlarge)

Checking communication tasks with native speakers

Life among the Ga-dang - pounding rice

Arrival by helicopter

Then, for comparison, we had one of the Ga-dang men pretend that he was married and visiting in the other man's house. He also was supposed to excuse himself and go home to his wife. The roles were understood. The 2 men thought it was really funny that they were “actors” (artista). We set up the scene, and the young man said, “Ok, I have to go home now to my wife.” Instead of the proper Ga-dang response, the older man forgot he was doing a role play, looked at him and said, “What? I didn't know you were married!” Of course, then the younger man broke down laughing!

Time for take 2! Artista we are not. :)

Maybe it would be good here to write up a description of how we do a language and culture check. First of all, we are moving into places where the language barrier is a significant barrier to people understanding the Gospel. There in the Ga-dang village where I was this morning, I went outside the house we were staying in and walked up to talk to a neighbor. In this “tribal” area, the people are not really tribal like the Palawanos were, but are more just like Filipino farmers who have a different language. At least, that is what one might think when one first goes in.

However, even after a few minutes of conversing with my neighbor in Tagalog, which he speaks pretty well from having gone to school, it was pretty clear that there was a lot he would not get in Tagalog. Use of Tagalog is increasing in the population for sure, especially because of television shows that are broadcast nation-wide, but for the most part explaining the deep truths of God's Word clearly is still going to have to be accomplished in the local language in the Ga-dang area.

The only person available now to take God's Word to the Ga-dang are these missionaries. This can be a sensitive issue. Us missionaries have sometimes made the mistake that it will always be necessary for foreign missionaries to take the Gospel to these remote places. That is changing rapidly – there are increasing numbers of Filipino Christians who have a vision to take the Gospel back into the remote towns and villages and finish getting the message to all these areas. But that is all for another discussion. The point of this discussion is how a cross-cultural missionary is able to move into a new area, learn the language and culture, preach the Gospel so that it is clearly understood, and establish a church.

Why language and culture? Why not just language? It is because culture and language are inseparable. Here is a simple illustration. Three tribal bible teachers are going to hike to a neighboring village to teach the Gospel there. The new missionary wants to accompany the tribal men, so he goes along. However he wants the tribal men to walk in front of him, so that he will not feel that he is imposing upon them. When they arrive in the village, the village people are cold with them and do not receive the teaching, and really are not interested in listening at all. Why? Because in this tribal culture, the order in which outsiders approach a village is of supreme importance. By not having the white missionary in front as a person of perceived higher status, the bible teachers communicated to the new village that they did not respect people of higher status. They were thought of as people that do not show respect, and therefore their message had no credibility.

That is culture. Culture and language are inseparable. When a tribal woman in a certain tribe sitting on her porch says “come in and visit” it is different from saying “come up and visit”. One is a proposition of an illicit affair, the other is a polite way of acknowledging a visitor. The missionary would want to respond appropriately. There are so many things in a culture that are intertwined with the language. Our job as Culture and Language Consultants is to help the new missionaries in tribal areas to learn to recognize these things. Also, since there are no language schools in these areas in order to teach the new missionary how to speak and act in a given area, he or she has to figure it out for himself. Our job is to help coach them through setting up their own learning program so that they can get to the point where they can teach the Gospel clearly.

Of course, there are always going to be mistakes that are made, especially at the beginning stages. However, the missionary who has been somewhere for several years and still has not learned that “come in” means “let's sleep together” and “come up” means “let's visit” will not be very effective in preaching the Gospel. He will not have good relationships with the people he is trying to reach if he doesn't understand the little nuances of the culture. The people make great allowances for mistakes when he first moves in. After several years, a missionary is expected to know these things. If he learns them quickly, within the first couple of years, then he establishes a pattern of excellence and respect among the people, which will make his message more credible.

It was a good visit to the Ga-dang village. They gave us peanut coffee (roast peanuts pounded and then mixed into hot water), and I liked it better than real coffee! No caffeine rush, which is preferable to me. Also we locked the keys to the missionary house inside the house once! I had to ask one of the men to borrow a stick to mash open the window - they were a bit concerned about that! They gave me an axe, and we got in. Ha! So now I have broken into someone's house with an axe! Well, at least it was supervised.

We have now finished with the 2^nd tribal visit, and one more to go. The weather is not cooperating right now, and we are waiting for it to clear so that we can fly in by helicopter and assist the missionaries in another tribal area.

tying the generator to a water buffalo cart for transport

the Ga-dang village from the air

pointing out the area we will fly through

some houses still have thatch roofs, though most do not

village kids

tasting peanut coffee (no coffee grounds were available, so fried peanuts were mashed and made into coffee instead)

a village house on the left with its corresponding rice house on the right