I’ve grown up an academic. I love school. I love learning. When it comes to languages, I love learning how they function. The grammar and the patterns are what interest me the most. Breaking down sentences by looking at the morphology has been my favorite part of language learning.
Now as a missionary, I have to take a different approach to languages if I want to actually communicate with people from the culture I’ll be entering into. As Elizabeth Brewster says in her article “Bonding:” “normal language acquisition is essentially a social experience not an academic activity.” Trying to adapt my approach to language is going to be a process. I need to consider language learning as a relational/social activity not merely something just to know via textbooks.
Difference Maker 