There are more than 4.3 billion people speaking nearly 2,300 languages across Asia! You’ve probably heard of some of the more common ones, like Mandarin Chinese, Arabic, and Hindi. But there are a lot of other widely spoken languages that may not be as familiar to you. For example, did you know that there are over 20 other languages, in addition to Hindi, that are spoken in India alone! As a result, if you were to move to Asia as a missionary, you would almost certainly need to learn a new language.
Most missionaries begin learning their new language in much the same way we all learn our first language… by learning the vocabulary of everyday things, listening to others speak, and then little-by-little putting simple sentences together. Children’s books are excellent tools for language practice because the language is written at an easy-to-understand level!
Listen as a friend in India reads a well-known book to us in Hindi. Follow along with the words in the book in English as she reads in Hindi. Look for repetitive words and see if you can make a connection between English and Hindi and learn a new word or two!
Some other questions to think about after listening to the book:
- Clearly the word the reader is using for caterpillar in Hindi is… caterpillar. Sometimes this is done because there isn’t a word that translates with the same meaning.
- But look at the title of the book: Bahut Bhukha Caterpillar. What do you think the first two words of the title mean? Would you guess that bahut means “very” and bhukha means “hungry”? If so, you are correct!
- Do you think the language sounds hard to learn?
One of the things we can learn from this activity, is that God is creator of diverse people around the world, with diverse languages, customs, and cultures. We can also be reminded that learning another language is a very real part of being a missionary. If you can’t communicate with someone, then you can’t share the Gospel with them. So when you pray for a missionary, especially one going to a country in which they’ll have to learn a new language, you can always pray for God to help them learn quickly and efficiently the language of their country of service.
And then we can be confident that as God calls, He provides all that is needed for a person to fulfill their calling. He is faithful to his creation!