A new restaurant is opening up in our neighborhood, and their sign is a great reminder of why we are studying the heart language of this place. The company’s name isn’t actually translated here at all–it’s just spelled out using the local alphabet. The result is unintentionally humorous and ironic, because the sign has a picture of a woman, but the local word for father (mama) on it.
Why do we study language and culture? Because we know that the deep truths of God’s word can get lost in translation if we can only speak them in English and out of our own cultural context. Praise be to God for His work and help as we continue the language journey.