His Word in a foreign Language

[Mave]

Eversince my fellowship dissolved early this year, I've been without a bible study group. This evening, I was invited to participate in a bible study group in a baptist church. I like the group, the people are nice and the topics are good.

However, there is a problem (or opportunity, depending on how you look at it). The whole bible study is conducted in Cantonese and Mandarin since all members are from Taiwan, HongKong, China or Malaysia (Chinese speaking countries). 0.o If any of you know me well enough, you would know that I vaguely know both Chinese dialects. ^^;;;;;; I can speak some of each dialects (you know, simple questions, greetings) but I cannot carry an intellectual conversation at all.

And yet, it's funny, I feel as if this is finally, the opportunity I've been waiting for. Apart from my private goal of being able to speak fluently in Mandarin and Cantonese by the age of 25, laugh if you will, I've also always had this weird desire to teach others about Christian living in Chinese. That's been one of my motivations in learning the dialects.

Wish me good luck as I start translating the Book of James with my roomate tomorrow by chapter. Even my roommate who's really good in Chinese says, it'll be a challenge coz the bible uses a different type of Chinese vocabulary due to unfamiliar (to her) terms such as "faith, grace, submission, blessings, prayers etc" in Chinese. May God give me and her the wisdom to figure it out quickly.

Anyone ever had to deal with bible studying or teaching in a foreign language? Was it difficult for you? Or have you guys only read the bible in English your whole life? I wonder how the bible sounds like in Spanish or French or even German. wow...


PS: I've studied the Bible in Indonesian before. Not too difficult to translate coz it's similar to my native language, Malay. And the worship songs are beautiful. Fellow Indonesians, I really love this one song.

"Ku Kan Menari dan Bersuka, Karna Mu oh Yesusku,
Ku Kan Minum AirMu, Bagai Rusa Rindu,
Selalu Ku Hidup DalamMu, dan HidupMu Di DalamKu,
Oh YesusKu...Kau Sangat KuCinta"

"I will dance and I will rejoice, because of you, Oh my Jesus
I will drink of your water, like a thirsty deer
I will always live in you and you will always live in me
Oh my Jesus, I love you so much."

[SManBeyond]

You're right. That is a very beautiful song. I will be praying for you and trust that God will give you both patience and wisdom to learn.

I actually can read the Bible in Spanish, but haven't done so often.

[Kaligraphic]

I typically keep the Bible in 4 languages on my PDA. (Of course, that's English, Spanish, Greek, and Latin) Haven't really done any teaching outside of English, though.

[Psycho Ann]

I believe He's going to open doors for you with this opportunity ^^ The Chinese version of the Bible is quite a mix between traditional and poetic Chinese and if you can grasp them everything else is a cinch ^^

And yeah, that Indo song sound familiar and beautiful... I can't grasp the melody now, but I seem to have heard it before

Yosssh~~!! Berjuang!! XD

[Rev. Doc]

What a great opportunity. My prayers are with you that God will open doors of communication.

When I was in Slovenia, one of my assignments for language study was to read Psalm 23 in front of the congregation at the Baptist Church in the capital. I must have practiced that for a whole week yet still made many mistakes I'm sure (yet they were so gracious about it).

I've had opportunity to be in Romania a number of times and have attended worship services and Bible studies. However, there my translators took care of reading the Scripture portion of my message. Regardless of understanding it or not, such experiences are always a blessing.