Beginner’s Guide to Learning Your Mission Language

[Third Hour]

Congratulations! You have just been called to serve in a mission that will require you to learn a foreign language! Language learning on a mission can be both an exciting and terrifying process. When I was called to serve in Japan, it took me a few days to realize that the Church was not pulling my leg. I would be expected to teach the gospel in Japanese, and I’m pretty sure the only Japanese words I knew at that point in my life were “sushi” and “konnichiwa.” But luckily, I had about three months before I was to report to the MTC, so I determined that I would study hard and become fluent in Japanese before entering the MTC. Oh boy was that dream shot down reaaaaaal quick. HOWEVER. I did learn some valuable lessons both before and during my mission on how to learn a foreign language. Apps When do you NOT have your phone on you? If you just take 5 minutes each day to use a language...

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[anatess2]

Tips:

Learn the culture.

Most people learning Bisaya finds out that learning the vocabulary is not enough.  You also need to learn the Bisaya culture (depends on which island you're on) which affects how you speak. 

For example, in central Visayas, people are more direct and efficient and fast to the point that my husband thinks we're always fighting as we talk in machine-gun fire.  So they tend to use a lot of short cuts.  So, instead of saying  "Unsa man ang imong pangalan?" (What is your name?), they just say "Unsay imong ngan?" and even slide out the y in Unsay that it's almost not there because it's too much work to form that sound.  And, of course, being right there in the middle of the country, the culture is influenced by both north and south and so the Bisaya tend to use both sentence structures, so sometimes they say "Unsay imong ngan?" and sometimes they say "Unsay ngan nimo?".

And... the direct people that they are, they tend to even avoid words, like, if you ask somebody where the jeepney stop is, they could just nod in that direction and smile.  Conveys both direction and polite greeting at the same time.

And... the Bisaya are jokesters and can be sarcastic.  I can't even explain this... you just know that it's a joke or sarcastic.  Sometimes they're really mad at you but they're masking it in jokes.  And sometimes they sound so serious but they're actually pulling your leg.  You just kinda know... hard to explain.

[omegaseamaster75]

Learning the language is the easy part. I served before we had the inter-web thingy.  The most important part is integrating with the local people, becoming a part of who they are integrating into their culture and understanding how they think.