Comments on: Temptations of a Foreign Language

By: Honey Bun

Honey Bun — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 15:09:39 +0000

I totally agree! I suffer from this malady myself. Thank you Jesus that you forgive me and are daily conforming us to your image. I might add an interesting Chinese idiom:

????????? It means: “what is committed to in the heart is displayed on the outside.”

By: Dana

Dana — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 04:08:12 +0000

Oh, I LOVE this…So important to remember that man sees the outside, but God sees the heart. Thanks for sharing from yours!

By: Amy

Amy — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 03:01:47 +0000

yep. we KNOW.

I’ve been in that exact same predicament… later I was horrified.

We try really hard to make it a point only to speak Spanish whenever anyone is with us that doesn’t speak English. We even correct our kids and make them say it in Spanish, or translate it for them if they don’t know the words… but when we aren’t ‘with’ anyone we speak English a lot as a family. This means, we have also occasionally slipped into the habit of speaking about others knowing they don’t understand. Kids sometimes say blunt/mean things (so do some adults!). We are working with our kids on this. But, like you, we realize often that it isn’t just a problem of the actual words, but of the heart. This happened yesterday with my oldest on the way home from lunch. He said something. We explained, not only do we not talk like that (even if they can’t understand), but we can’t THINK like that either! Your post is a perfect reminder to continue working on this! We learned our lesson early on, when we were with a man who had lived here for years. We were in a taxi with him, and he was telling us all how the culture is just so deceitful, the difficulty to learn the language is an indication of how fallen a culture, etc, etc (he had some weird beliefs). We were in the car for more than a half an hour listening to him. As we paid him, and just as we were about to get out, the taxi driver said in perfect English, ‘I can’t believe you can’t stand Peruvian ceviche!’
Obviously, this negative man had some serious heart issues… we had to ask ourselves, ‘why on earth has he lived here so long, and hates it?!’
Anyway,
thank you for the reminder!
Warmly,
Amy
tarapoto, peru

By: Dawn

Dawn — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 22:40:15 +0000

This is a very well written entry. Thank you so much. What an excellent reminder.
Blessings,
Dawn

By: Lori

Lori — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 21:37:19 +0000

Very thought provoking Jimmie! And thank you for including the verses for reference. I must say, I have been as guilty of this as anyone, even surrounded by those that speak the same language. Muttering just loud enough to be heard is STILL just as sinful as expressing rude thoughts in another language, or just THINKING them to begin with.
Thanks for the reminder.

I’ve come to rely on your homeschooling entries to uplift me in that area, & I am grateful for these entries as well.

Xie xie (hope I got that right..dd and I used to watch “Sagwa”, LOL)

By: Marsha

Marsha — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 20:04:57 +0000

While it’s good to learn to hold our tongue and practice silence, the old thought-life can be neglected and go wild if we don’t learn to control it.

You’ve given me lots to think about!

By: Jimmie

Jimmie — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 11:38:45 +0000

You are so right, short! I face this too, and so I should be more careful not to act in a way that I myself hate to be treated. Good old golden rule at work. It’s amazing how sin is so sneaky.

By: short

short — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 11:32:13 +0000

Funny, when you were talking about invisibility I was thinking about it from the other side – how people around me think I don’t understand them and they say offensive things. When I smile and give them a knowing look they feel embarrassed.

This was a very powerful entry, thanks for the reminder about heart issues.