We are at a training for two weeks on language learning. The first step that I am learning is to face my fears of learning another language. Did you know that the most frequent imperative command in the scriptures is "do not be afraid?" I guess God knows me well. Anyway, he encourages us, like Joshua, to be strong and courageous and he will be with us. I am also learning to quit saying, I can't do this, to I can do this much so far..... We are learning to make sounds with our mouth and lips and tongue that are different than the 44 sounds of English. I can now say that I have a few more sounds that I can make with my mouth.
Another great tip today was to listen with comprehension rather than trying to mimic words when you begin. We tried this out today on a tribal language from Vietnam and we get to try it tomorrow in Russian with a Russian language helper. So, I am learning techniques that I can do now-observing everyone else's mouths!!!!!, etc...... to understand how sounds are made.
I read the first day I was here in the last chapter of John. Here, Peter questions the risen Lord when he challenges Peter to feed my sheep. Peter wants to know " what is going to happen with that "other disciple" (meaning John). My paraphrasing, but the Lord asks Peter to do what he is asked to do and not worry about the other disciple. In the same way, the Lord is challenging me not to compare myself to others in this language learning process, but to work hard and learn and try try try.... Do you know how difficult that is surrounded by all these missionaries - I think I am the oldest in the room.....?
Colorado is beautiful and God has given me a wonderful setting, away from the distractions of home to step out in faith and try this language learning on way before I get on a plane to the Czech. I am grateful for this opportunity.
Marge Parmenter
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Apa Apa Apa
I'm sitting in a room with eight other adults making sounds I might expect to hear from a 1 year old. It's all part of opening up our eyes to hear and equipping our mouths to say sounds that are not part of the English language. The English language has about 44 basic sounds that make up all the words we use. When we are infants we are capable of hearing all the sounds that are possible to make and could learn any language. That's why small children have an easier time learning a second language.
As we grow older our brain locks into just those sounds in our native language. It's not just that we have difficulty saying them, our brains may not recognize them well enough to even attempt to reproduce them. Try to reproduce a word from a language in which tone of voice is part of the meaning of the word. The teacher demonstrated pairs of words that all sounded the same, but were each different, if you listened to subtle shifts in tone or elongation of vowel or consonant. On the flip side, individuals from Japan who have learned English well are still not able to pronounce certain common sounds. Those sounds don't exist in their language and their brains may not even recognize when the "hear" them spoken.
So, each day, twice a day, we drill phonetic sounds. One example is to drill making unaspirated "P", "B", and some other letters. When English speakers use those letters at the beginning of a word they make a puff of air after it. You probably don't even notice that you do. Many languages use those sounds in the unaspirated form. No puff. So we drill through making those unaspirated sounds. This is just the beginning as the staff take us through numerous non-English language sounds. The end goal is to be able recognize language sounds that are not part of English and to make them correctly when we are learning another language. We also get to laugh at ourselves a lot.
Later yesterday, the demonstrated some langauge learning techniques that we can do while we are attending language school. They make a point that acquiring the language is our task. Language school is there to help, but even outside of it we should be using creative ways to learn the language. Right now, I can't even imagine that I will become fluent in another language. It seems impossible. Marge and I are thankful that God does the impossible, that so many wise individuals have been there before us, and can help us find the way.
As we grow older our brain locks into just those sounds in our native language. It's not just that we have difficulty saying them, our brains may not recognize them well enough to even attempt to reproduce them. Try to reproduce a word from a language in which tone of voice is part of the meaning of the word. The teacher demonstrated pairs of words that all sounded the same, but were each different, if you listened to subtle shifts in tone or elongation of vowel or consonant. On the flip side, individuals from Japan who have learned English well are still not able to pronounce certain common sounds. Those sounds don't exist in their language and their brains may not even recognize when the "hear" them spoken.
So, each day, twice a day, we drill phonetic sounds. One example is to drill making unaspirated "P", "B", and some other letters. When English speakers use those letters at the beginning of a word they make a puff of air after it. You probably don't even notice that you do. Many languages use those sounds in the unaspirated form. No puff. So we drill through making those unaspirated sounds. This is just the beginning as the staff take us through numerous non-English language sounds. The end goal is to be able recognize language sounds that are not part of English and to make them correctly when we are learning another language. We also get to laugh at ourselves a lot.
Later yesterday, the demonstrated some langauge learning techniques that we can do while we are attending language school. They make a point that acquiring the language is our task. Language school is there to help, but even outside of it we should be using creative ways to learn the language. Right now, I can't even imagine that I will become fluent in another language. It seems impossible. Marge and I are thankful that God does the impossible, that so many wise individuals have been there before us, and can help us find the way.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Kalamazoo to Palmer
We spent 10 hours in the car each day on Sunday and Monday to make our way to the 4pm orientation here in Palmer Lake, CO. Though exhausting we enjoyed the drive, listening to music, stories on disk, talking or just sitting in silence as we left Kalamazoo 3 pm on Sunday after speaking at First Baptist in Bellevue. We stopped at about midnight in Lincoln, NE. The next morning we were up and out the door by 7:30 in order to arrive in Plamer Lake on time.As happened onto the prairie/foot hills (if that's what they are called), I was stunned by the wide open spaces. Then as we drove throu
gh 
Denver and headed South toward Palmer Lake we just sort of gawked at the mountains. The small road that leads from the highway to the MTI office is like a roller coaster. Marge was driving. Thankfully. The kids wooped it up and laughed as we topped several hills. I just closed my eyes and turned my head.Today is the first full day of training and classes. I frankly feel overwelmed. We are surrounded by individuals and couples from different mission agencies bound for countries all over the world. Each of them excited about successfully communicating Christ to the language/cultures in which they will reside. Most of our day today was occupied with phonetics training. We are learning to identify (hear) and reproduce the basic sounds of language. Recognizing the sounds of our langague and other non English sounds. Each day we will be drilled on how to identify and reproduce basic linquistic sounds. This will prepare us for identifying the unique sounds of a language and reproduce them.
We are also learning techniques for learning language.
Believe it or not, it's tiring work, but we still plan on hiking on the trail that is behind the training center. I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful location to receive training. I almost feel a little guilty. I always thought missionaries were supposed to suffer, but sitting in the midst of these mountains is a glorious experience.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Two years down . . . Two to go?
When Marge and I were appointed as missionaries, we were blissfully unaware of the roller coaster that the first two years of pre-field would be. I thought it would only take two years of pre-field ministry and then we would be in the Czech. As a painter it took me years to figure out how long it would take to paint a room. I always underestimated. So it's no surprise that I underestimated this. What I didn't realize is the learning and maturation that would take place during pre-field. It is a training ground for us, and a ministry to the churches we visit.
What has happened in these first two years. Well we started out the first year and a half with me juggling a full time job and pre-field. That meant, while at Pfizer, rushing to find an empty conference room and with my cell phone and note cards seeing how many churches I could contact on a break. In a good week I might contact 40 churches and send out ten information packets. Then, Pfizer gave me a flexible work schedule and each Tuesday, from home, I would contact 60 churches. My position at Pfizer was restructured last December and I was let go. Some weeks since then, but not every week, I've contact 150+ churches. It has really accelerated the process of setting up meetings.
In 2008, we spoke at 12 churches. In 2009, we will probably speak at about 30+ churches. These meetings are where we have a chance to share about the Czech and why we feel called to go there. Some churches, after praying, will sense that God wants them to support us financially or through prayer. Some individuals will also make a decision to support us.
Another thing that has developed over the last two years is our ability to articulate our two fold message. Part of the message is about our mission to the Czech, but the second part is that at every church we are encouraging people to value Christ above all else. So, even when a church doesn't feel called to support us, we have the opportunity to encourage and challenge people in their Christian faith. We do this in morning services, sunday school lessons, and concerts. We also challenge them to realize that God is at work all over the world in ways we don't often realize. At each church we have also had opportunities to be a listening ear and to counsel with people. In that way, pre-field is much more than fund raising. It really is a mission of encouragement to churches all over the Midwest.
The two years of pre-field have been a maturing process. Spiritually, as necessity has driven us more and more to prayer and acts of faith. We have seen God provide our needs such as the time our car broke down on the road, and the church at which we were speaking covered all the expenses through a special offering. We are learning how to trust in God even when He doesn't act on our timing. It is stretching and deepening our faith. We are maturing in knowledge as we study the Bible and teach others. Our patience and ability to stay calm when confronted with obstacles has grown. That's something you need lots of on the field. We've also learned how to be more organized and prepared.
There have been low points and low low points when we lie awake at night and wonder how in the world this will all turn out. Or wondering if we are really missionary material. Through it all our resolve to continue on this road, working hard and praying harder, has not abated. It may take us another two years. In fact God may have more for us to learn or other churches in which he wants us to minister. In that regard then we will remain faithful to this pre-field ministry until such time that God calls us across the ocean tot the next stage in this adventure.
What has happened in these first two years. Well we started out the first year and a half with me juggling a full time job and pre-field. That meant, while at Pfizer, rushing to find an empty conference room and with my cell phone and note cards seeing how many churches I could contact on a break. In a good week I might contact 40 churches and send out ten information packets. Then, Pfizer gave me a flexible work schedule and each Tuesday, from home, I would contact 60 churches. My position at Pfizer was restructured last December and I was let go. Some weeks since then, but not every week, I've contact 150+ churches. It has really accelerated the process of setting up meetings.
In 2008, we spoke at 12 churches. In 2009, we will probably speak at about 30+ churches. These meetings are where we have a chance to share about the Czech and why we feel called to go there. Some churches, after praying, will sense that God wants them to support us financially or through prayer. Some individuals will also make a decision to support us.
Another thing that has developed over the last two years is our ability to articulate our two fold message. Part of the message is about our mission to the Czech, but the second part is that at every church we are encouraging people to value Christ above all else. So, even when a church doesn't feel called to support us, we have the opportunity to encourage and challenge people in their Christian faith. We do this in morning services, sunday school lessons, and concerts. We also challenge them to realize that God is at work all over the world in ways we don't often realize. At each church we have also had opportunities to be a listening ear and to counsel with people. In that way, pre-field is much more than fund raising. It really is a mission of encouragement to churches all over the Midwest.
The two years of pre-field have been a maturing process. Spiritually, as necessity has driven us more and more to prayer and acts of faith. We have seen God provide our needs such as the time our car broke down on the road, and the church at which we were speaking covered all the expenses through a special offering. We are learning how to trust in God even when He doesn't act on our timing. It is stretching and deepening our faith. We are maturing in knowledge as we study the Bible and teach others. Our patience and ability to stay calm when confronted with obstacles has grown. That's something you need lots of on the field. We've also learned how to be more organized and prepared.
There have been low points and low low points when we lie awake at night and wonder how in the world this will all turn out. Or wondering if we are really missionary material. Through it all our resolve to continue on this road, working hard and praying harder, has not abated. It may take us another two years. In fact God may have more for us to learn or other churches in which he wants us to minister. In that regard then we will remain faithful to this pre-field ministry until such time that God calls us across the ocean tot the next stage in this adventure.
Gearing up for the Rockies
Sunday, after speaking at First Baptist in Bellevue, we are heading off to ?? for the two week PILAT training at Mission Training International (http://www.mti.org) located in Palmer Lake, CO. PILAT is the Program in Language Acquisition Training and while there we will learn the skill of language acquisition.
I honestly don't know what we will be doing for two weeks, but I want to have the skills necessary to learn the Czech language well. After the training we are going to drive up to Estes park where we've rented a cabin for several days. This opportunity won't arise again for a long time, so we want to enjoy the beauty of the region while we can.
I'm a little nervous. I've never done a cross country road trip before. Growing up we flew everywhere. My dad was a pilot for United Airlines, so tickets were very cheap or free. This is a new experience for me, but I'm looking forward to it.
Check here, and I'll keep you updated on what happens.
I honestly don't know what we will be doing for two weeks, but I want to have the skills necessary to learn the Czech language well. After the training we are going to drive up to Estes park where we've rented a cabin for several days. This opportunity won't arise again for a long time, so we want to enjoy the beauty of the region while we can.
I'm a little nervous. I've never done a cross country road trip before. Growing up we flew everywhere. My dad was a pilot for United Airlines, so tickets were very cheap or free. This is a new experience for me, but I'm looking forward to it.
Check here, and I'll keep you updated on what happens.
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