2003
The Voice: Winter 2003
Hug-a-Linguist Days deepens students’ understanding of other languages and cultures
by Andrew De Young
For the twenty-ninth year, Dordt’s language department welcomed representatives from Wycliffe Bible Translators
to campus for the annual Hug-A-Linguist Days. This year, however, the name seemed
almost inappropriate. If there was one thing speakers Andy Minch, Chuck Micheals, and
Bob Shaw were trying to get across to students, it was that you
don’t need to be a linguist to help translate the Bible.
“For every linguist, there are three or four other people making sure they
can do their job effectively,” says Bob Shaw, an information specialist who felt
the call to missions work after retiring from IBM. Shaw works with JAARS
of Waxaw, North Carolina, an organization that assists Wycliffe by providing translation teams
with support groups made up of people of a variety of backgrounds and
skills.
“Whatever your skill is, it can be used in Bible translation,” says Shaw.
Pilots, construction workers, teachers, doctors, and computer professionals are just a few of
the people whose skills are needed to assist in Bible translation.
In addition to translating the Bible into a wide variety of languages,
Wycliffe also helps develop the communities for whom they are translating. Chuck Micheals,
who is involved in community development, worked in the grocery business before getting
involved in missions. He found his passion for service and his business experience
to be valuable assets in assisting Wycliffe Bible translation teams.
“Community development helps people reach their full potential, but we don’t just meet
people’s needs,” says Micheals. “Community development also gives the linguists credibility by giving
us an opportunity to model Jesus.” He points out that everywhere Jesus went,
he met people’s physical needs in addition to preaching the gospel. Community development,
according to Micheals, does the same thing—making people more receptive to the newly
translated Scriptures by assisting the community.
“We also like to rub shoulders with the local people,” says Micheals. “It
helps us to learn about the culture, customs, and values of the people
we’re serving. That knowledge is essential for Bible translation.”
The need to learn about culture and customs in order to translate the
Bible is more important than many people realize, points out Andy Minch, the
linguist of the group. In a variety of workshops, Minch taught students that
communicating the gospel across cultures is more complicated than simply overcoming the language
barrier. Culture can be an obstacle as well.
“It’s often difficult to translate particular passages, especially when the culture doesn’t have
certain words,” says Minch. “How can I express something that these people don’t
have a word for? That’s the challenge.”
Differing assumptions about society, religion, and God also prove to be an obstacle.
“Some cultures view the spirit world in a different way than we do,”
says Minch. “The legends and superstitions often portray a world where the ‘gods’
are in nature, and on the same level as human beings. It’s hard
to convey the idea of a supreme God with a cultural assumption like
that.”
But cultural assumptions color the way we look at Scripture, too. In a
workshop called “God is Not an American,” Minch showed students some ways in
which our American culture affects our reading of Scripture. The cultural assumptions that
Americans have, he points out, do not necessarily affect our understanding of the
Bible positively.
Minch finds a way to overcome his own cultural assumptions, however, in his
ongoing study of languages. Every time he learns a new language, he says,
he learns a new way to look at the world and the Word.
“Each new language gives me a different, deeper perspective,” he says. “It’s hard
to describe the immensity of what I’ve learned.”
It may be hard for Minch to describe, but it’s something he desperately
wants students to understand. He hopes students walked away from Hug-A-Linguist Days understanding
that language is a barrier, but it can also be a blessing. And
you don’t have to be a linguist to receive that blessing.
